Strategic Plan 2024-2027
Principal’s message
Our school vision is to be a school for lifewe are committed to preparing students for lifelong learning, leadership and engagement in the local and global community.
As we celebrate our 125th anniversary in 2026, we are excited to build upon our rich legacy with our strategic plans that prioritise the learning and wellbeing of our students and the dedicated staff who nurture their holistic education. Together, we are adapting to the evolving landscape of education, society and the workforce of the future, ensuring our students are equipped for the challenges ahead.
Our strategic themes highlight the importance of a thriving learning environment for students who will learn not just to excel academically but to embrace the joy of learning itself. Lauriston teachers are passionate about their own professional growth, engaging with students in a safe learning environment to foster innovation and creativity.
While we value human skills, we understand that both students and teachers will continue to learn how digital technologies and innovations can be used to enhance deeper learning.
Our sport strategy aligns seamlessly with the strategic themes of student personal growth, wellbeing, belonging and learning for life. Our robust sport program promotes student wellbeing and complements our view that physical wellbeing fosters both academic progress and belonging to a community. Our co-curricular program further enhances our sport program, and both encourage our students to discover their passions and interests that inspire them.
Lauriston is more than a school – it’s a thriving community where life-long connections flourish. We are dedicated to fostering a strong sense of belonging for all members of our school and broader community.
I am excited about the journey ahead for Lauriston, as we continue to champion girls’ education and prepare young women to make a positive impact on the world, with confidence and compassion.
Principal
Strategic Plan
Our Vision is to be a School for Life.
It is our mission to inspire Lauriston girls to be courageous lifelong learners. They are ethical and compassionate young women who seek to resolve new-world problems and strive to be responsible, global citizens working with others to shape their world. The Strategic Plan sets out how Lauriston will achieve this, by committing to seven strategic themes:
Staff and Student Safety
Continue to maintain a place of the highest level of safety for all students and staff.
Student Personal Growth, Wellbeing and Belonging
Enable a thriving learning environment where children and young people cultivate and demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, skills and values that enhance their own wellbeing and that of others.
Staff Personal Growth, Wellbeing and Belonging
Attract and retain quality staff, supporting individuals and teams who are aligned with our School Values, motivated to build our strength and capacity as a school and committed to their professional growth.
Learning for Life
Enable self-determined learners, who are competent, autonomous and connected through the provision of a holistic education.
Technology as an Enabler
Create a dynamic, technology enhanced educational environment that supports and values diverse teaching methods, fosters continuous learning, and equips both students and teachers with the skills and resources necessary for success.
Connected Community
Build a sense of belonging for all members of our community, sustaining life-long connections with our school.
Resourcing our Future
Provide and maintain high-quality education, and sustainable social, environmental, and financial practices.
Theme One | Student and Staff Safety
Goal: Continue to maintain a place of the highest level of safety for all students and staff.
• Continue to meet our work health and safety standards.
• Adopt a shared mentality of care and a commitment to the safety of our staff, students and visitors on our campuses.
• Develop a systematic approach to the management of risks.
• Ensure there are well designed and understood processes for assessing and managing risks.
• Give attention to raising the awareness of staff and students in identifying risks.
• Ensure there are current and clear policies and procedures.
Theme Two | Student Personal Growth, Wellbeing and Belonging
Goal: Enable a thriving learning environment where children and young people cultivate and demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, skills and values that enhance their own wellbeing and that of others.
• Continue to enhance structures, procedures and practices to effectively promote, protect and respond to the safety and wellbeing of all students.
• Further develop staff capabilities to effectively and systematically promote, notice, inquire about and respond to student wellbeing.
• Enhance our response to students with existing or emerging wellbeing concerns by improving integration within our Student Services team and building stronger partnerships with Allied Health Professionals.
• Enhance our schoolwide wellbeing framework and curriculum to ensure it remains evidence-informed, developmentally appropriate, and contextually relevant.
• Empower students by educating them about their rights, including their rights to safety, access to information, participation and pathways to raise concerns.
• Amplify student voice, enhancing leadership and peer mentoring opportunities, processes and engagement.
• Support students to broaden their definition of success to include the learning process and personal growth, alongside academic achievement and broader school engagement, ensuring the school continues to recognise and celebrate success in alignment with this perspective.
Theme Three | Staff Personal Growth, Wellbeing and Belonging
Goal: Attract and retain quality staff, supporting individuals and teams who are aligned with our School Values, motivated to build our strength and capacity as a school and committed to their professional growth.
• Establish a Lauriston Staff Wellbeing Framework which gives attention to the personal (social, emotional, and physical) and professional wellbeing of staff members.
• Maintain a respectful, inclusive, and collaborative culture underpinned by the Lauriston Values which enables a strong connection to a shared purpose.
• Explore different educational models for the delivery and provision of a holistic education which have positive outcomes for students and staff.
• Continually review our human resources to realise our strategic vision and respond to the needs of teachers, staff and the school community.
• Continue to build a sustainable and agile recruitment and retention strategy.
• Enhance leadership capacity through professional learning and resources, fostering a positive workplace culture and providing effective support for professional development and wellbeing.
• Investigate evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning which improve outcomes for students.
• Embrace the use of Lauriston’s data strategy and data analytics to inform the planning of learning activities for individual students and year levels.
• Promote and encourage the thought leadership of staff in all aspects of education, particularly girls’ education, and through contributing to the education debate, both nationally and internationally.
• Ensure all staff maintain a key focus on child safety, embedding it in all aspects of school life.
Theme Four | Learning for Life
Goal: Enable self-determined learners, who are competent, autonomous and connected through the provision of a holistic education.
• Develop an online student learning and achievement profile where students can document their academic and co-curricular achievements, learning experiences, capabilities and attributes essential for future pathways and workforce success.
• Evolve our Teaching and Learning Framework to ensure it remains evidenceinformed, contextually relevant and with a place for implementation to enhance teaching practice and student outcomes.
• Continue to map the curriculum from Early Learning to Year 12 to ensure that learning is aligned and sequential.
• Continue to provide sport and physical activities to our students from the primary to secondary years through our Sport Strategic Plan priority goals and actions.
• Enhance the collection, access to and use of data to inform approaches to learning and wellbeing.
• Cater for each learner’s individual academic journey through the provision of a relevant curriculum and differentiated approaches to learning.
• Offer timely, constructive feedback and feedforward provided by teachers trained in effective delivery.
• Establish flexible curriculum offerings that empower student voice, agency, and leadership in a range of learning experiences.
• Implement learning approaches in academic lessons and through co-curricular activities that scaffold thinking processes in critical thinking and problem solving and stretch creative thinking.
• Develop guiding principles and routines for authentic collaboration for students and staff.
• Expand opportunities for students to participate in entrepreneurial experiences.
• Connect the world of learning with the world of work in practical ways through developing deeper external relationships with universities, industry, and our alumnae.
• Support global and experiential learning opportunities that engage and enrich students beyond the classroom.
• Foster an appreciation for the diversity of opinions and cultural backgrounds students bring to their lessons and activities, embedding the value of respectful listening and thoughtful dialogue and debate.
Theme Five | Technology as an Enabler
Goal: Create a dynamic, technology enhanced educational environment that supports and values diverse teaching methods, fosters continuous learning, and equips both students and teachers with the skills and resources necessary for success.
• Make informed decisions which are responsive to emerging technological innovations to enhance both quality teaching and learning, and school operations.
• Ensure that classrooms and common spaces are designed and equipped to adapt quickly and easily to meet a variety of workplace, teaching and learning needs.
• Ensure continuous enhancement of the network capacity to support anytime and anywhere learning whilst embedding robust data protection systems.
• Harness data to better understand student needs and provide more targeted guidance.
• Ensure that teachers are proficient and able to design, use and share technologyenabled learning experiences.
• Provide opportunities for staff to regularly explore technologies which makes their teaching and work more efficient and effective.
• Develop and deepen the digital fluency and technology skills of students to support them in the management of their learning, wellbeing and effective use of technology.
• Build the capacity of staff and students to practice digital-safety and use technology in a safe, ethical, and discerning manner, ensuring this is reflected in our policies and practices.
• Enable the development of online student learning and achievement profiles.
• Continue to enable the design and implementation of digital micro-credentials for student and staff learning.
• Improve user-experience through our platforms and enable effective communication with members of the school.
Theme Six | Connected Community
Goal: Build a sense of belonging for all members of our community, sustaining lifelong connections with our school.
• Embed a culture of diversity, inclusivity and respect that reflects our School Values, Inclusion Statement and Commitment to Reconciliation, and fosters feelings of support and safety for all members of our school community.
• Provide a compelling narrative of the Lauriston Effect which captures the voices and stories of current and past students and offers evidence of how their education/school experience informed the development of their unique qualities and dispositions.
• Create structures, strategies, and operations to engage with the community and foster philanthropy.
• Enhance engagement with our school community through their participation in informative presentations and programs about their child’s holistic education and future readiness for life beyond school.
• Actively plan for lifelong and meaningful connections within the entire Lauriston community.
• Amplify the role of women and girls and their roles in our community and broader society to inspire civic engagement and community leadership.
• Actively seek school community voice, listen thoughtfully, and incorporate feedback as appropriate.
Theme Seven | Resourcing our Future
Goal: Provide and maintain high-quality education, and sustainable social, environmental, and financial practices.
• Provide effective governance, wellstructured operations and internal processes which positively impact the effective and efficient running of the school.
• Ensure financial resilience in the achievement of the school’s vision and strategic goals through operational efficiencies, engagement in our fundraising strategy and ability to adapt to changes in the environment.
• Provide the physical spaces, technology and resources that will benefit current and future students, staff, and parents.
• Actively promote sustainability through the school’s masterplan, operational models, and strategic direction.
Sport Strategic Plan 2025-2028
Introduction
Vision
Lauriston is a school for life. We will enhance student physical and mental health and reduce social isolation by developing lifelong habits of physical activity and wellness and maintaining a connection with Lauriston.
Mission
Through enhancing the physical activity and wellness of our students, our school can foster competence, confidence and capability to pursue sport and recreational activities throughout their lives, including the development of transferable ‘soft skills’ or ‘enablers’ which are highly valued as an indicator of potential to employers.
• All students should engage in regular physical activity which enhances their wellbeing and academic success through improvements to physical and mental health, confidence, self-esteem and reduced social isolation.
• All students should have access to established programs of physical education, sport and recreational activities, along with new and emerging activities, thus providing opportunities to regularly engage in a range of physical activities that are safe, respectful and inclusive.
• All students shouldhave access to the FTEM framework (Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery) which enables individuals to improve sporting performance.
• All students should have access to leadership programs through sport and recreational activities which can develop transferable ‘soft skills’ or ‘enablers’ such as team work, communication skills and resilience which are important for life beyond school and future employment.
Strategic Pillar One | Participation
Goal 1: Provide sports programs and pathways that offer diversity and appeal to all students to ensure that the skills of every Lauriston student from beginner to high performance can be developed.
• Continue to provide programs that prepare students physically and mentally for future activities.
• Continue to offer programs that create retention in sport at Lauriston to the end of Year 12.
• Track student participation in sport and recreational sport activities during each Term in the Junior and Senior Schools, analyze participation levels and establish strategic goals to improve participation, where needed.
• Continue to offer the FUNdamental program for students from Prep to Year 6 who have under-developed movement skills.
• Continue to implement a skills acquisition program for students from Years 7 to 12 who have under-developed movement skills.
Goal 2: Ensure our students have access to participate in sufficient physical activities which meet the mandated physical activity guidelines (Prep-Year 3: 20-30 minutes daily; Years 4-6: 3 hours per week of which 50% is dedicated physical education; Years 7-10: 100 minutes per week for physical education and sport).
• Continue to give attention to increasing the number of athletes and teams participating at State and National levels.
• Continue to offer additional training and competition opportunities for students across a breadth of Athletics Victoria and community-based running events.
• Prioritise the following sports over the next three years, building participation through training activities and competition opportunities through GSV and community organisations: Rowing, Athletics (Cross Country and Track and Field) and Basketball.
• Develop a strategic plan for the priority sports of Rowing, Athletics and Basketball in consultation with the Head Coaches.
• Continue the Junior School (Prep to Year 6) ‘Huff and Puff’ 15-minute morning fitness activity program with involvement from the Year 6 Student Representative Council to lead activities with their classroom teachers.
• Continue an ‘AUSKICK’ program for the Junior School which will focus on skill development and understanding of game fundamentals. Incorporate the AUSKICK program into the Health and PE program and link with an after-school program.
• Provide opportunities for Years 5 and 6 students to participate in SSV competition and pathways.
• Provide a fortnightly physical activity, sport or recreation opportunity for Years 11 and 12 students during timetabled hours.
Strategic Pillar One | Participation
Goal 3: Develop the sport program to complement and support recreational activities making the links between sport, physical education and recreational activities well known and visible to students and parents.
• Enhance whole of school participation in megatrend activities, to continue to develop the Sport and Physical Education landscape beyond traditional practices, for example non-organised physical activities such as a walking group and opening of the gymnasium for strength and conditioning activities before and after school.
• Investigate the megatrend of urban and adventure sports - rock climbing and skateboarding - for possible inclusion in the recreational offerings for students.
• Promote mainstream and non-traditional sport offerings to Years 10 to 12 students with a view to encouraging ongoing physical activity.
• Develop a sequential skills course for students to become competent bike riders by the beginning of Year 8.
• Plan and coordinate current and future camps, including an annual review of appropriateness of year level and activities to be included.
• Investigate the introduction of an e-sport club for students.
Goal 4: Continue to develop a sequential plan which gives attention to student preparation and participation pre-Howqua, during the Howqua year, and post-Howqua when students move to Year 10.
• Plan and offer ‘transition to Howqua’ activities such as the running program, outdoor education experiences, bushwalking and camp skills from Years 6 to 8 with a view to developing skills and fostering an interest in experiential activities.
• Implement a compulsory program for Year 8 students in Term 3 and 4 as students prepare for the Howqua year, with an emphasis on strength and conditioning, and running technique.
• Whilst maintaining the Howqua philosophy, continue to review the Howqua Running Program reflecting the Australia Athletics FIT Model Training and Competition Guidelines for Children and Adolescents, providing ongoing professional learning to Howqua teachers on ‘best practice’ and injury prevention in collaboration with the Armadale Head of Athletics.
• Undertake a review of the Health and PE curriculum at the Howqua campus.
• Plan and offer ‘return to Armadale’ activities for Year 10 students, such as the running program, rowing and GSV competition to promote engagement in physical activities.
Strategic Pillar Two | Supporting Excellence
Goal 5: Increase and promote high quality training and competition opportunities.
• Continue to build student participation in training opportunities across the school.
• Continue to develop partnerships with external community clubs, tertiary institutions and sporting organisations with a view to enhancing opportunities for training, playing sport and establishing pathways for identified talented students.
• Continue to develop a culture and spirit with students and coaches that Lauriston is a School for Life, with physical and recreational activities contributing to lifelong health and wellbeing.
• Provide a range of training camps and clinics for all House Carnival sports with the purpose of building skill, fitness and team culture.
• Continue to refine and enhance the House Carnivals to ensure high quality and professional competition environments.
• Encourage the analysis of student data from major House Carnivals when considering talent identification and engaging students in the sport program.
• Investigate new technologies, including wearables, which provide information on individual and team performance and can be used to support a personalised approach to coaching and training.
Goal 8: Provide pathways for all Lauriston students to further develop their potential.
• Use the FTEM framework (Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery) to enable Lauriston to plan and support athlete pathways including students who want to maintain an active lifestyle and students who are aiming for excellence in their chosen sport.
Goal 6: Develop and use a digital platform that will measure student competency, identify fitness level, skill level, measure improvement and identify participation issues.
• Refine the digital platform that centralises student data on sport progress including participation, physical fitness, skill development and mental preparedness.
Goal 7: Provide quality coaching and support for all Lauriston students to further develop their potential.
• Continue to recruit, develop and engage a range of coaches for our sporting programs, including senior coaches for our priority sports and coaches with varying levels of experience.
• Develop a coach performance review process which provides constructive feedback and fosters the building of competence for coaches, head coaches and coordinators.
• Continue to enhance and implement coach induction and professional learning or mentor programs.
• Continue to review policies, procedures and induction handbooks for coaches.
• Publish policies, procedures and induction handbooks on Clipboard and Schoolbox for easy access by coaches and staff.
• Continue to implement and extend the Compass program from Years 5 to 8 and the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme from Years 9 to 12.
Strategic Pillar Three | Affiliations
Goal 9: Increase and promote high quality training and competition opportunities.
• Continue to foster current parent involvement in sport as a way of maintaining advocacy and support.
• With the support of the Director of Advancement to build the support of alumnae and past parents by providing them with opportunities to engage with sport at Lauriston.
• Enable students and parents to have the opportunity to socialise and form connections within a sport setting.
• Develop affiliations with external community clubs, tertiary institutions and sporting organisations with a view to enhancing opportunities for training, playing sport and establishing pathways for identified talented students.
• Strengthen affiliations with youth and community groups through social sport and recreation activities hosted by Lauriston.
• Continue to develop the annual Celebration of Sport event which enables the school to recognise the achievements of current students and alumnae.
• Encourage the tradition of Lauriston alumnae to remain involved with sport in our school.
Strategic Pillar Four | Leadership
Goal 10: Develop and enhance student leadership and active citizenship.
• Enhance student leadership roles in the sport and recreation program, developing leadership capacities through training, mentoring and engagement with external activities and people.
• Actively engage our Lauriston alumnae and provide them with opportunities to support and mentor student athletes.
• Encourage the tradition of Lauriston alumnae who stay within sport at our school.
• Continue to develop physical and sport specific microcredentials to help students showcase their skills and accomplishments.
Goal 11: Continue to develop and promote a culture of sport and outdoor recreation within the Lauriston community and broader community, through giving attention to the performances of our students and teams, the quality of our sporting facilities and the lifelong focus given to student participation in sport.
• Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications team to establish a profile for Lauriston sport, recreational and outdoor education/experiential activities, along with team and individual achievements and alumnae achievements on a range of digital platforms.
• Use a digital platform which will provide timely information to students and parents about all sporting activities and opportunities within Lauriston.
• Increase the number of articles, new stories and media coverage of sport and physical activities offered at Lauriston along with interesting team and individual stories.
