Our vision is to be a school for life Lauriston’s Junior School is where we begin honing each girl’s independent thinking skills, building her confidence in STEM subjects, and instilling a sense of purpose through contribution.
The all-girls learning program and class sizes allow our dedicated teaching team the freedom to create the best possible learning environments. Places where they can understand each girl as a learner and value her as a person.
Ultimately, our goal is to develop the skills and aptitudes your daughter needs to excel in her senior years and beyond.
Welcome to Lauriston Junior School
Our broad range of academic and wellbeing programs - as well a vast selection of cocurricular activities available from Prep to Year 6 - are delivered in a welcoming and nurturing environment that’s underpinned by our ethos of ‘care, share and respect’.
Lauriston’s classroom environment allows your daughter to concentrate on her academic progress, while our teachers focus on her needs, including identifying whether she needs extra support or to be challenged.
A key element of Lauriston’s Junior School is how we develop leadership skills and strength of character. By the time a girl reaches Year 6, she’ll have had experience working in teams and many opportunities to lead, including becoming a confident public speaker.
Indeed, in Year 6 we have a particular focus on inspiring girls to view themselves as leaders as they prepare for their senior years.
We truly believe our exceptional educators and the depth and breadth of our program enables each girl to unlock her potential and gives her the head start she needs to truly thrive.
Susan Just Principal, Lauriston Girls’ School
A foundation for success
Our Junior School is a learning environment where girls feel respected and valued; a place where childhood is celebrated. It’s a safe place of warmth, fun, joy and laughter, where learning flourishes.
A student once said to me, “It is cool to learn at Lauriston.”
That’s because we tailor our programs to the needs of each student, providing extension opportunities or greater support as needed, aiming to build strong academic foundations that prepare girls for a lifetime of learning.
While advancing traditional foundation skills in literacy and numeracy, Lauriston has highly developed programs to promote digital literacy, creativity, collaboration and STEM learning that will equip the girls for the world as it is and will be.
Our team of long-serving educators creates a stable, nurturing environment that ensures students feel safe, understood and can smoothly transition from one year to the next. They’re attuned to the emotional needs of every girl and our progressive Wellbeing Program is tailored to each stage of her development.
The wide range of incursions, excursions, camps, co-curricular activities, and our community service program ensures each girl experiences the many facets of life and learning that help shape her interests and passions.
Above all though, I believe it’s the positivity and encouragement that our students show to one another that truly enriches our School and makes learning ‘cool’.
Over generations, it has helped create a community that supports your daughter to be the very best she can be.
Chris Toms Vice-Principal, Head of Junior School
The Lauriston difference
Our Junior School promotes respectful relationships as a foundation for life, in line with our ethos of ‘care, share and respect’.
These values are ingrained in all aspects of a girl’s life at Lauriston, and they combine to provide her with an unusually strong sense of purpose and belonging.
We value a variety of learning experiences, delivered through stimulating and challenging programs that acknowledge the uniqueness of each child, while supporting her social, emotional and physical growth as a person.
It’s this ‘whole of life’ approach that we believe makes the Lauriston difference.
Leading wellbeing programs
Our Wellbeing Program is solidly researchbased and finely tuned to girls’ needs from Prep to Year 6. Examples from within the Program include the Resilience Project, based on a ‘gratitude, empathy and mindfulness’ framework and Bodyworks, which covers personal safety, development and puberty. There are also bespoke units that address cyber-safety and building friendships, among many others.
Exceptional educators
As dedicated, nurturing and innovative educators, our Junior School teachers get to know the girls’ personalities, strengths and areas for improvement, and use these insights to ensure each girl feels important and valued. What’s more, they have access to constant professional development, such as the University of Newcastle’s Quality Teaching Rounds, which identifies and helps nurture and develop exceptional teaching strategies.
Individualised learning
Our focus on the individual means our teachers quickly identify those girls who require extra support as well as those craving more challenge and extension. Regular testing, assessment and reporting in all subjects means we know each girl’s level of learning at any given time. It also allows us to create fluid groups of students to help support their changing needs and deliver learning that ensures each girl grows at her optimal pace.
Parent communication
At Lauriston, we believe a successful education is very much a family affair. That’s why we work hard to foster positive and productive relationships between staff, students and parents. Our online portal provides real-time feedback on assessments and academic performance, and we regularly run seminars which expose our parents to global thought leadership on children’s education and wellbeing.
Our difference
Academic rigour
A well-rounded Junior School education balances building a student’s broad knowledge base with the development of specialist skills. That’s why the rigorous attention paid to literacy and numeracy is complemented by subjects such as Physical Education, Wellbeing, Information and Communications Technology, Science, Inquiry, Library, Drama, Visual Arts, Music, Mandarin and French.
Feeding inquiring minds
The Lauriston Inquiry Framework – Ask, Investigate, Create, Discuss, Reflect – will help your daughter grow into a curious and resourceful woman who can confidently articulate and apply what she knows. In our Junior School, students are encouraged to form their own questions about a topic or subject and then explore answers using the processes of English, Mathematics and the Arts to develop and express their understanding of the world around them.
Embracing future technology
Our commitment to STEM in the Junior School equips every girl with a foundational understanding of the technologies shaping the future and prepares those who will follow the STEM path into careers. This begins in Prep, when the girls are introduced to our FabLearn Lab, where they become skilled in the use of laser cutters, 3D printers, hand tools and more, to complete various STEM projects.
Expansive co-curriculars
Before, during and after school, girls have a broad choice of co-curricular activities including Swim Squad, Netball, Running, Coding, Chess, Ballet and Orchestra. In fact, by Years 5 and 6 there are more than 20 different co-curricular activities on offer, designed to develop minds and bodies, as well as team and leadership skills.
Confident leaders
Our formal Leadership Program builds from Year 2 and reaches its pinnacle in Year 6. By then the girls are leaders in the Junior School, being well versed and experienced in the five building blocks of leadership: confidence, organisation, responsibility, teamwork and public speaking.
A love of the Arts
Whether it’s through involvement in a drama production, participating in the orchestra, bands or choirs or developing a piece for an exhibition, our music, drama and art programs allow Junior School students the freedom to fully explore their creativity and display their talents at a young age.
Community service
Through our Girls in Values Education (GIVE) program, we have a strong commitment to community service and the support of local, national and international organisations. Lauriston girls make a hands-on contribution to many organisations nominated by our students. It inspires them to work together towards positive social change.
Facilities
Our current Junior School facilities are very much focused on the needs of our Junior School girls. Our historic Blairholme building is a safe and nurturing area dedicated to our early years of Prep to Year 2 and our Montrose building along with further classrooms are home to our Years 3 to 6 students. These facilities are separate but remain close to the Senior School facilities.
At Lauriston we recognise the crucial role that sport plays in the social, emotional and academic development of our students. The Ullmer Centre is our Sports, Health and Wellbeing Precinct and includes a gymnasium with two multi-purpose courts; spaces for activities such as yoga, pilates, meditation, rowing, cycling and weight training; four adjoining outdoor courts and cricket nets; changeroom facilities and swimming pools.
Our new Year 5 and 6 Centre is a light-filled, spacious environment featuring flexible working spaces spread over two levels. Generously sized classrooms, a common space where girls can gather and quiet zones where students can read or reflect allow teachers to explore learning techniques that meet each student’s needs.
A place to belong
Regardless of when she joins the Lauriston community, every girl is welcomed into a place that teaches the value of relationships, courage, creativity, intellectual curiosity and engagement in life to the full.
Taught by caring and passionate educators, the syllabus is broken down into core subjects and specialist programs, where continuous evaluation and reflection are key.
On enrolment, students join one of four Houses. Through sporting and House competitions, they develop connections, build a support network and forge lifelong friendships.
Prep to Year 3
At this crucial stage of a girl’s development, a Lauriston education is dominated by ‘hands on’ learning and creative experiences, designed to spark and nurture her natural curiosity.
The fostering of good relationships makes girls feel positive about themselves and helps them learn more effectively so that by Year 3, staff can gradually encourage greater independence.
In short, girls begin the lifelong process of taking control of their own learning.
To kindle this growing independence, the Camps Program begins in Year 2 with a sleepover at school, as preparation for an overnight camp at Candlebark Farm in Year 3. Leadership skills are developed through our Buddy Program, where the Year 2s mentor the Prep students, helping both groups build their social skills. Indeed, by Year 2, our girls are conducting tours and hosting assemblies.
Technology-based education also begins early at Lauriston, with Prep to Year 3 girls building their digital skills via coding incursions, a lunchtime STEM club and kinaesthetic experiences designed to explore programming languages.
An education in the Arts is also a vital part of Lauriston life, with specialist music, drama and art programs designed to identify develop the girls’ creative talents and capabilities.
Year 4 to Year 6
While the foundations of literacy and numeracy continue to be an important focus for students in Years 4 to 6, the girls enjoy a truly comprehensive specialist program and a range of camps and co-curricular experiences.
This is a time when girls are learning how to learn; to appreciate the value of focused inquiry and take ownership of their education journey.
In Year 5, students benefit from an outdoor education camp experience that focuses on an integrated unit of inquiry. Year 5 students also participate in a three-day conference exploring what it means to be courageous, via activities focused on communication, team building, problem-solving and trust. The girls learn to show courage in their everyday lives, and how that can help them overcome future challenges.
Leadership skills are more finely honed through Years 4 to 6, with students having the opportunity to stand for election to the Student Representative Council (SRC), which meets regularly to discuss School issues.
Year 6 begins with a three-day leadership conference that kicks off a year-long Change Management Project, led and implemented by the girls themselves. Our extensive camp program culminates in Year 6 with a 4-day trip to Canberra to investigate Australia’s political system.
A digital future
We prepare our students to be the creators of technology, not just its users.
The primary years are a time when students develop confidence and belief in their abilities as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) learners.
At Lauriston, we’re committed to equipping our girls with the skill sets, tool sets and crucially, mindset to grasp opportunities and make a positive impact in the world they will inherit.
Underpinning these programs is the belief that an early introduction to basic programming can help children build transferable problem solving and critical thinking skills. It enables the girls to confidently learn and use more complex programming languages to create digital solutions in the later primary years.
It’s also vital that we establish strong science and technology foundations to ensure girls are not just prepared, but excited to face the rigours of STEM projects in Senior School.
This is driven by our teachers, who collaborate and plan projects that connect technology across the curriculum. For example, the Year 6 girls’ signature digital design project of an electric car allows them to make use of their knowledge of electrical circuits gained in their Science classes.
IT capability
Familiarity with technology gives children the best chance of navigating the future as adults. In Prep to Year 4, the girls use class iPads on a regular basis as a tool to enhance their learning and in Years 5 and 6, they graduate to MacBooks. Crucially, the girls learn about cyber safety throughout. Our Digital Citizenship Program provides them with a toolkit to ensure they grow into safe, ethical and responsible online citizens.
Digital design
The ability to create using digital technologies comes from exposing students to the thinking and concepts behind the technology, and giving them the opportunity to interact with it in the real world. Our Robotics Program is a good example of this philosophy in action.
First introduced in Kindergarten, it’s delivered on a sequential basis until Year 6. Each year the students use progressively more complex coding tools to design a robot that can solve a problem. For example, the Year 2 project was built around unpacking the history of Lauriston’s Blairholme building and programming a robot to be a tour guide.
Our digital design is not limited to robotics. In Year 5, students delve into digital entrepreneurship and create a brand, a podcast and a website for a small business, culminating in a pop-up store that showcases their product or service.
Learning through making
Yet another element of our STEM program is design and digital fabrication. Undertaken in the FabLearn lab, each year group uses a design thinking approach to plan and fabricate a project such as puppets, tiny houses, Melbourne landmarks, the solar system, and electric cars.
Students across the Junior School also master a range of creative tools to share their knowledge, including stop motion and green screen movie making, digital books and virtual and augmented reality experiences.
Our aim is to ensure the girls are creative, effective, and critical users of technology, not simply passive consumers.
A love of the Arts
Imagination, collaboration and performance.
At Lauriston, visual art, orchestra, drama performance, musicals and choir combine in a program that builds confidence and connection. It gives our students a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Music
Ample research supports the positive influence music has on the growing brain, so it’s no surprise music is a feature of life at Lauriston from Kindergarten and Prep.
Based on the Kodály and Orff philosophies of music education, all students develop a range of musical skills including listening, singing, moving, dancing, playing, improvising and performing.
Performance opportunities in the Junior School range from recital performances, masterclasses and assemblies, through to formal concerts at the Melbourne Recital Centre and Hamer Hall. Students are also able to participate in our vast co-curricular ensemble program which includes both chamber and large string, band and choral ensembles.
Girls from as young as Prep participate in and enjoy the benefits of music through our classroom Choral, Strings and Bands Programs. All children in Years 2 and 3 learn to play an orchestral stringed instrument and, at Year 5, learn a brass or woodwind instrument.
Drama
Theatre arts are an important part of our Junior School culture, particularly as it creates a strong sense of teamwork and collaboration.
Each year, students are encouraged to become involved in the production of a School musical or play. The diverse skills required to create a theatre production – from performing or playing music to designing and making the sets and costumes – create opportunities for each girl to explore different interests and discover her unique talents, both individually and as a team member.
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts Program provides girls with the opportunity to celebrate creativity, imagination and self-expression, with specialist classes expertly curated and cadenced from Prep to Year 6.
In the early years, the program focuses on fostering a passion for the visual arts and on recognising artists. Students engage in childcentric mediums which promote expression, as they work on individual and collaborative projects.
By Year 3, drawing skills are refined through portraiture. They also begin to explore art across different cultures and create works of digital art, using an Apple iPad and Pencil to engage with the design software.
However, it’s in Year 4 where art truly interfaces with the digital world. Art, music and digital design intersect when students create an animation using plasticine models of an endangered animal against the backdrop of their habitat, accompanying this with music of their own composition.
The pivotal project in Year 5 is the Mad Hatters Project. Each student is issued a standard papier mache hat, but the final design and materials used are left purely to her imagination. The parade of the finished creations to an audience of parents is a highlight of the year.
Year 6 students focus on an artist who inspires their showcase Art Dolls Project, which is a celebration of their creativity and individual artistic response.
Sport for life
Physical health is crucial to wellbeing and flourishing emotional and cognitive development.
Part of gifting a girl a lifelong love of physical activity is to make it fun and keep competition healthy and friendly. It also reinforces the values of respect, creates positive self-identity and nurtures resilience.
Our Physical Education program is designed for all year levels from Prep to Year 6. It provides girls with the opportunity to develop sportspecific skills including physical co-ordination and strategic knowledge to help them achieve their individual sporting goals.
From Year 2, students can be involved in House sports programs including Cross Country, Swimming and Athletics, culminating in the Lauriston Inter-House Cup each year. While competitive, the focus is on fun, inclusion, and enjoyment of sport.
Our Junior School also competes within the School Sport Victoria (SSV) primary system as a member of the Armadale District. The association provides opportunities for girls from Year 3 to Year 6 to compete, depending on their capabilities, at District, Division, Regional, and State levels.
It’s a pathway for those who have skills in a certain area to progress through to the State Championships. SSV sports include Swimming, Cross Country, Athletics, Hockey and Water Polo. Year 6 students can also participate in Australian Rules Football, Basketball, Netball and Soccer competitions.
Co-curricular sport
Recreational activities for all year levels before and after school include our Active Mornings and Fundamental Movement programs, Swim Squad, Running Club, Learn to Dive or Dive Squad and Yoga. In addition, the girls can participate in Lauriston’s Sports Associations including the Snowsports and Netball Associations.
A focus on wellbeing
Our wellbeing program is research based and in tune with a girl’s needs at each stage of her development.
Our Program equips girls with skills they can draw upon to manage the demands of life.
Throughout each year, they’re provided with weekly opportunities to build social confidence and competence and behave in a way where kindness and empathy for others are central to their being.
Underpinned by our ethos of ‘care, share and respect’, our Program is based on research which identifies five domains of wellbeing: emotional and self-awareness; positive mindsets; positive relationships and role modelling; health habits and looking outward.
In Prep to Year 2 the focus is on establishing the foundations of the social and emotional skills developed in Kindergarten, as well as establishing a growth mindset.
Throughout Years 3 and 4, we safely build emotional strength through The Resilience Project. Year 5 concentrates on courage and Year 6 explores leadership.
Running in parallel to the Program from Year 3, we partner with school health provider Bodyworks to address a girl’s developmental stages in safe and caring ways.
In Year 3 the program is focused on personal safety and in Years 4, 5 and 6, age-appropriate programs are delivered on puberty and personal development. In Year 5 and 6 a bespoke pre-teen program also addresses the notion of friendship and what a good friend looks like, as a response to the pervasiveness of social media.
These topics are also extended to our parents to help them stay up to date with their daughter’s progress.
Lauriston also has registered nurses and psychologists onsite to provide immediate care. They have a close working relationship with each other, optimising the quality of care delivered.
Connecting through Community Service
We inspire our girls to make a difference.
At Lauriston, our girls take a hands-on involvement in causes they support. It gives them an understanding of the tangible difference they can make to other people’s lives. Our Girls in Values Education (GIVE) Program covers local, national and global organisations and likewise, is built to develop an awareness and understanding of others.
Each Lauriston year level supports a different organisation, and we’ll often bring a speaker in to the school to ensure our efforts are grounded in purpose and to develop a deeper awareness of community issues.
For example, Year 6 students have previously supported the PCYC in St Kilda. By doing extra jobs at home, the girls raise money to help set up their new cafe and supported some young vulnerable youth to undertake barista courses. This link to a tangible outcome helps them understand the difference their support can make in the real world.
The Year 5s raise money and awareness for the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation which supports research into Brain Cancer via a yearly Fun Run which includes the, Old Lauristonians Association, staff and girls, while the Year 4s choose an endangered animal each year to support.
In Year 3, the girls are involved in the Very Special Kids Foundation and the focus of Prep to Year 2 has been intergenerational, with the girls supporting the residents of MECWA aged care.
We also provide meaningful support for Children’s Ground in Alice Springs, which is a 25 year approach to education.
In addition, Lauriston Girls’ School supports several local, grassroots organisations with a Casual Clothes Day each term. We also hold numerous collections throughout the year to support the Malvern Emergency Food Program, books and toys for Stonnington mothers doing it tough and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, coats for St. Kilda Mums, second hand sporting goods for Boots for All, and many more.
Building confident leaders
What distinguishes the Lauriston Year 6 program is its focus on developing the leadership capabilities in all girls.
Students learn that passion, an idea to improve a situation and the ability to rally people to collaborate, can create the incremental change that makes a difference.
To that end, the year begins with a three-day leadership conference, opened by a motivational speaker who inspires the girls to harness the power of resilience and explains the importance of attitude and goal setting.
Workshops on leadership and presentations from Year 12 captains and community leaders demonstrate to the girls the qualities of today’s most effective leaders and build to a Leadership Change Project linked to the curriculum.
During Term 2 the girls work in groups to deep dive and map out a project of their choice using digital planning technologies such as Padlet.
In Term 3 they create and flesh out possible solutions and in Term 4 they implement and present their projects.
Examples of past Leadership Change Projects include implementing a student safe space, compliment jars to enhance student wellbeing and raising awareness of environmental issues and gender equality.
In Year 6, we support a distributed leadership model to enable every girl to hold a position of responsibility and unlock her leadership potential. These include undertaking special duties, leading activities in the classroom and performing at or leading assemblies.
Co-curricular Program
The Lauriston Junior School co-curricular program provides a raft of opportunities for the girls to be involved in programs before and after school and during lunchtimes, to extend their abilities and interests. Prep 1 2 3 4 5 6
Arts
Art Club
Ballet
Drama
Digital
Afterschool Coding Program
Tinker Club
Languages
Alliance Francaise French Program
EAL
Mandarin Lessons
Music
Blairholme Strings
Concert Band
Flute Ensemble
Fusion Ensemble
Guitar Ensemble
Lauriston Collective
Montrose Chamber Choir (auditioned)
Montrose Choir (non-auditioned)
Montrose Strings
Years 2-4
Choir (non-auditioned)
Sport
Athletics
Hockey Skills
Learn to Dive
Montrose Running Club
Montrose Swim Squad
Netball
Skipping Program
Snow Sports Dryland Training
Sporting Skills
Water Polo
Yoga
Trips
Central Australia 6 day experience
Other
Chess Club
Communication and Speech
Podcast Club
Beyond Junior School
A Lauriston girl leaves our Junior School with highly developed skills in literacy, numeracy, science and technology, and an appreciation of her own creative power.
Curious and resilient, she understands what makes an effective leader and knows how to step forward and put those qualities into practice.
She’s comfortable in her own skin, shows respect for others and acts with kindness and empathy.
Worldly, yet grounded in the understanding of how fortunate she is, the Lauriston Junior School girl graduates as an autonomous, independent thinker.
She’s a confident learner, which will set the foundations for the rest of her senior schooling.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, the Boonwurrung and the Taungurung peoples of the Kulin Nations, whose sovereignty was never ceded, and pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and future, for they hold the memories, traditions, culture and hopes of First Nations Peoples. We also recognise their continuing connection to Country and culture.
We acknowledge that our community is diverse; and Lauriston values an inclusive and accepting environment for all ages, genders, abilities, races, religions, sexualities and cultures.
