Ravenswood has been awarded four Excellence Awards in the Australian Education Awards 2024.
Principal Mrs Anne Johnstone has received an Excellence Award for Principal of the Year (Non-Government) for her visionary and inspirational leadership.
The award recognises her leadership of innovative academic and wellbeing curriculum and learning experiences at Ravenswood, as well as her commitment to supporting students to fulfill their potential and flourish as young people. The award further acknowledges the outstanding achievements of the school under Anne’s leadership, from students achieving some of the highest HSC and IB Diploma results in recent years to historically high demand for enrolments, with waiting lists across many year groups. Mrs Johnstone is also honoured for her pioneering national and global leadership in the area of Positive Education. In addition, the award recognises her achievements to advancing staff professional development opportunities and more broadly supporting a vibrant, warm, and collegial culture at Ravenswood.
Ravenswood was also recognised with an Excellence Award for Best Use of Technology for its use of 6th generation Class Virtual Reality (VR) technology which allows educators to implement state-of-the-art immersive, engaging learning and assessment experiences.
‘We have seen high engagement from students who have utilised this technology to learn more about a wide array of topics, from bees and ocean biomes to natural disasters or exploring the Globe Theatre as part of the Shakespeare curriculum,’ says Mrs Johnstone. ‘Not only does this technology allow students to “walk in other people’s shoes”, but teachers have also noted the improvement in teamwork and social skills derived through student collaboration in creating experiential learning environments.’
Ravenswood has also received an Excellence Award for Best Student Wellbeing Program. Under Mrs Johnstone’s leadership, Ravenswood was the first school in NSW to embed a Visible Wellbeing program. 2023 saw the launch of several new innovative wellbeing initiatives, including the introduction of a Junior School Wellbeing program (IGNITE) and the opening of a Wellbeing Path that loops around the campus, providing dynamic wellbeing, learning and curriculum benefits for staff and students.
Embedding Positive Education and Visible Wellbeing into the Ravenswood curriculum has helped support outstanding learning and academic achievements of students. ‘We draw on research and strategies that support the bolstering of both wellbeing and academic achievement and the inextricable link between these,’ explains Mrs Anne Johnstone.
Ravenswood has also been honoured with an Excellence Award for Boarding School of the Year. With high levels of engagement and a family-oriented approach to boarding, the Ravenswood Residential College (RRC) provides a first-class living experience, with academic and award-winning wellbeing support and programs, and broad choice of activities for its boarders.
The RRC home-away-from-home puts into practice the School's globally recognised principles of Positive Education and Wellbeing, with innovative boarding wellbeing programs, wellbeing rooms and gardens, and outdoor games spaces and reflection areas.
The official announcement of the 2024 Australian Educator Awards 2024 Excellence Awardees: https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/revealed-the-australian-education-awards-2024-excellence-awardees/284668
