St Leonard’s College is one of Melbourne’s premier independent, coeducational schools located in bayside’s Brighton East. Educating students from ELC3 to year 12, the college is steadfast in its commitment to educating young people in a physically, emotionally and spiritually safe environment where they are genuinely known, nurtured and loved.
The extraordinary year of 2020 saw the agile implementation of online learning, demonstrating the college’s capacity to pioneer pedagogical innovation and leadership. One of the first schools to adopt online learning, the St Leonard’s model was a recognised benchmark within both Victorian and national education. The college’s ability to adapt to the unprecedented demands of remote teaching and learning provided both parents and students with an unsurpassed level of assurance, optimism, comfort and care.
In these uncertain modern times, choosing a school with a proven ability to innovate is essential. 1972, St Leonard’s was the first independent school in the state to introduce coeducation. In 1982, it was the first Victorian school to introduce the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).
The IBDP’s international orientation makes it the most highly regarded and respected tertiary entrance qualification by the world’s leading universities. Consequently, St Leonard’s Senior School students are offered the highly sought after choice between the VCE and the IBDP. The IBDP Class of 2020 achieved a median ATAR of 96.88, and the combined IBDP and VCE cohort achieved a median ATAR of 90.85; a testament to the calibre of tuition and care that was sustained throughout the online learning period.
St Leonard’s College is the only Australian school invited to engage in the OECD 2030 project – The Future of Education. The initiative aims to help countries determine what knowledge, skills, attitudes and values will be necessary for students to truly thrive in the future. St Leonard’s academic leadership staff are able to partake in professional discourse with educational leaders from more than 30 countries, with the shared goal of developing international educational policy and strategy to establish scholastic systems that foster those essential life skills.
The college’s dedication to progress is evident in the continual enhancement of programs both in and beyond its classrooms, facilitated by the very best research, data, resources and educational organisations in the world such as the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero. St Leonard’s College was honoured by Harvard as their school of choice to host the 2022 Project Zero Conference, Education that Matters. This internationally renowned event, being held in March 2022, will assemble the world’s leading thinkers in education.
Professional learning partnerships with leading world universities, such as Harvard, and the college’s working relationship with University College London, facilitate the self-development of St Leonard’s world-class teachers; enhancing their ability to support the learning of all students in their care.
St Leonard’s College has been repeatedly acclaimed as one of Australia’s most innovative schools for the application and utilisation of technology and the development of systematic, critical and creative thinking. Longer lesson times (80 minutes) and smaller class sizes (maximum 22 students) mean there are increased opportunities to mentor its young people; developing those essential life skills that will ensure they are resilient, responsible, capable members of society.
St Leonard’s recognises the importance of building character, developing intellect and learning practical capabilities. The school seeks to develop selfless citizens who understand that their education is not only about what it can bring to their lives, but through them, what it can bring to the lives of others. The result is grounded and well-rounded students who seek to make the world in which they live a better place for themselves and others. Through the College’s extensive community service programs and social action initiatives, its young people are able to become global activists with a strong sense of responsibility and personal fulfilment.
St Leonard’s College students are welcomed into a caring community with an ethical culture, one that is founded upon a strong moral purpose – to develop genuine global citizens who respond to injustice, inequality and inequality injustice. The college theme for 2021 is diversity, equity, respect, friendship.
“When selecting our 2020 college theme, I was tempted to choose the more encompassing title of Developing Global Citizens, but succumbed to diversity, equity, respect in order to provide a more explicit focus on key elements of the values and skills required to not only become better global citizens, but better St Leonard’s College citizens, also,” Stuart Davis, college Principal, shares.
“Our capacity to enact provocations through discussions, role play and reflection was severely restricted in 2020, which is why we have continued with these three elements in 2021. The addition of Friendship to this year’s college theme reflects a late realisation that we can all theoretically value diversity and equity and be respectful without directly engaging with one another, which is contrary to our aspirations as a collegial community.”
St Leonard’s College students are provided with a vast array of learning opportunities that inform and enlighten them, teaching them the importance of taking responsibility at a personal level, as well as locally, nationally and globally. They are truly educated for life, empowered to live more fulfilling, rewarding lives at their fullest potential.