A softly spoken principal with a powerful message
Dr Archard, a “specialist educator of girls”, believes that the environment of a girls school can challenge pervasive social and cultural stereotypes.
Principal of Loreto Kirribilli, Dr Nicole Archard, is an enthusiast of design subjects and the design thinking process in particular. She is also a fan of write-on walls in classrooms.
“In the design thinking process, you have to make an error in order to get better,” she explains.
“The more errors you make, the better your product is. I like a write-on wall in classrooms because it exposes the thinking process, and the mistake process. We are teaching girls to have greater confidence – that if they’re wrong, it’s actually okay.”
This is one of the many strategies that Dr Archard sees as “educating beyond the stereotypes”, and one of the reasons she firmly believes that a girls’ school environment is the best place to educate girls and young women.
“When girls hit adolescence, their confidence levels drop by approximately 30 per cent,” she says.
“Even in adulthood, this loss of confidence never fully recovers. That lack of confidence then continues to play out in social and cultural outcomes for women, evidenced by the gender pay gap, and the lack of female representation at CEO and board level, for example.
“What we have in a single-sex environment is the opportunity to challenge the inequity that exists in our society. It means we can explicitly focus on what we call the purposeful education of girls, meaning that everything we do, inside and outside of the classroom, is directed towards developing girls’ confidence, self-efficacy and ultimately, their self-concept.
“We are familiar with the saying, ‘You can be what you can’t see,’ but you also can’t be what you don’t believe. Girls must learn to develop a strong self-concept which in turn will develop their level of confidence.
“Every school has a curriculum. Every school has a co-curricular program, and buildings, and a pedagogical approach. The difference is that at Loreto Kirribilli we do it through a girls’ educational lens. We are constantly thinking about that lens, and how to create alternative narratives for our girls, developing their confidence, resilience, risk-taking, and self-concept, and educating beyond the stereotypes.”
FACT FILE
OUR HERITAGE
Loreto Kirribilli is an independent Catholic school for girls from Kindergarten to Year 12 with an enrolment of more than 1000 students. Established in Kirribilli in 1908, our school is proud to be part of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), a group of schools and other social justice organisations, imbued with the Mary Ward tradition of women “doing much” in the service of others.
OUR VALUES
At the heart of a Loreto Kirribilli education are the beautiful values that we share across all Australian Loreto schools: freedom, justice, sincerity, verity and felicity. These values drive our students, staff and broader community in the honourable pursuit of educating girls and young women to become “seekers of truth and doers of justice”.
OUR EDUCATION
To embrace a Loreto education is so much more than achieving academic excellence: it is about shaping the whole person – a person who has integrity and a strong self-belief, a person who cares deeply about others and our world, and who possesses the confidence to put themselves forward in the pursuit of personal and spiritual growth.
OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Loreto Kirribilli is blessed with a close-knit community of parents, ex-students and friends who engage with and support the school on a number of levels. From expert participation at board level, to the numerous Parents & Friends activities, our parent and ex-student community contributes so much to the vibrant life of our school. Our dynamic LK Connect Networking and Mentoring program, now in its sixth year, brings our talented ex-students together with our young graduates on the cusp of their careers.
VISIT OUR CAMPUS
Join us for a tour of our Kirribilli campus. Bookings available via www.loreto.nsw.edu.au. For enrolment enquiries please call the registrar on +61 2 9957 4722 or email registrar@loreto.nsw.edu.au.
