Welcome to Ravenswood
Ravenswood School for Girls is a Uniting Church school from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 with an award-winning Principal, a Positive Education approach and exceptional academic outcomes.
Ravenswood is a multi-award-winning Uniting Church, Prep to Year 12 Day and Boarding school that aims to equip and inspire girls to participate in and contribute to our evolving global society.
Based in Gordon on Sydney’s North Shore, we are one of Australia’s leading independent girls’ schools, offering holistic education with a strong academic focus.
As a non-selective school, we accept girls of all talents, abilities, faiths and cultures. The uniqueness of our School comes from our personalised approach and our concern with developing the whole person through academic, social, emotional and spiritual growth.
Ravenswood is proud to have been named a 5-Star Innovative School by The Educator magazine six times in seven years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024). These accolades recognise our groundbreaking innovations in the areas of Positive Education and STEM.
In addition, Principal Mrs Anne Johnstone was the winner of Australian School Principal of the Year and School Principal of the Year (Non-Government) at the 2024 Australian Education Awards. She was also selected for The Educator’s Most Influential Educator list two years in a row – in 2023 and 2024, and for its Hot List in 2022 and 2023, as an educator at the forefront of educational excellence in Australia and for her innovative work in Positive Education. In 2022, the Teachers’ Guild of NSW awarded Anne the Phyllis Evans Medal, a prize that acknowledges a ‘distinguished educator of great standing’. It was the second time Anne had been recognised by the Guild, having received a Teachers’ Guild of NSW Award for Excellence in Teaching early in her career.
Electives
Ravenswood students have access to more than 100 diverse co-curricular choices, from Acro Dance to AFL and Theatresports to Tennis. We were the first girls’ school on Sydney’s north shore to offer Cadets with the Knox Ravenswood Cadet Unit, in partnership with our brother school, Knox Grammar School. Further co-educational opportunities conducted with Knox include a wellbeing conference, Business Week activities and performing arts productions.
Electives in Years 11 and 12 include but are by no means limited to: Beginners' Chinese, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Community and Family Studies, Design and Technology, Economics, English (Advanced, Standard, Extension 1 and 2), English as a Second Language, Heritage Speakers Chinese, Ancient and Modern History, Drama, Latin, Food Technology, French, German, Geography, Hospitality Curriculum Framework, Information Processes and Technology, Japanese, Legal Studies, Mathematics Extension 1 and 2, General Mathematics, PD/Health/PE, Physics, Software Design and Development, Senior Science, Society and Culture, Studies of Religion 2, Music 1 and 2, Visual Arts.
International Baccalaureate
Ravenswood is the only school on Sydney’s upper north shore to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma. This rigorous two-year course for Years 11 and 12 is recognised internationally and provides access to tertiary education worldwide.
Students in the Ravenswood Junior School from Kindergarten to Year 6 complete the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, an inquiry-based, student-centered, transdisciplinary curriculum framework.
Girls in the pre-kindergarten program Ravenswood Prep, benefit from a curriculum that combines the best of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Reggio Emilia and Ravenswood’s own award-winning Positive Education approach.
Scholarships
Ravenswood offers a number of scholarships each year to current or new Ravenswood students, covering both full and part tuition fees.
Ravenswood scholarships are conducted by Academic Assessment Services.
Available scholarships include:
• Music Scholarships
• Kim Buchan All Rounder Scholarship
• The Margaret Donaldson Scholarship
• Ravenswood Alumni Scholarship
• The Rural Residential Scholarship
Sport and Extracurricular Activities
Sport Activities at Ravenswood include:
AFL, tennis, softball, basketball, hockey, netball, swimming, athletics, golf, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, diving, trampolining, water polo, cross country, equestrian, football, snow sports and touch football. Elective sports include aerobics, jazz dance, life-saving, indoor rock climbing, aqua aerobics, surf awareness, football, social tennis, driver education, sports injury and oxy-resuscitation.
Saturday Sport is offered for girls in Years 4-6 at Ravenswood for the Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA) competitions and for Years 7-12 for the Independent Girls Schools Sporting Association (IGSSA) competitions.
Curricular related lessons are also available for tennis, swimming, golf, diving, trampolining, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics.
Extracurricular activities at Ravenswood: Cadets, Crusaders, drama, debating, public speaking, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, Year 11 community involvement, theatre technical team, chess club, orchestra, concert band, choirs, chamber orchestra, ensembles, theatre sports.
Welfare and Personal Development
Ravenswood was the first Visible Wellbeing School in NSW, has won three Innovative Schools awards and been nominated for the Educator Awards Best Wellbeing Program, for our Positive Education approach. Comprised of curriculum lessons, mentor group sessions, assemblies, chapel services, year group meetings and more, wellbeing at Ravenswood is conducted by a network of class teachers, mentors, year coordinators, the School Chaplain, psychologists, the Learning Enrichment team, the Health Care Unit and our two therapy dogs, Daisy and Penny.