Who we are

Mission: An economically independent and vibrant community that consistently provides the highest standards of excellence and innovation within a stimulating and nurturing environment.

Vision: Shaping Learners Who Inspire the World

Values: Scholarship, Courage, Creativity, Community

Where We Play

We own the Melbourne CBD to Geelong corridor.

We will continue to be the dominant education brand across this region, whilst nurturing select international markets and building on our reputation as one of the best independent schools in Australia.

Our current campuses at Williamstown and Truganina, and our future campus at Lovely Banks, will thrive as one cohesive school.

How We Operate

We are a place people want to learn, work, and grow together. This is achieved via a distributed leadership approach that empowers and creates a high performance and innovative environment. We aim to exceed expectations in everything we do.

Our Uniqueness

Diversity is our strength. We stand up for ourselves and step forward for others. Our unique value proposition includes the provision of a world class contemporary education, acceptance of all faiths and none, and the commitment that our staff have the best conditions in the sector.

Our Success

We believe that winning is ensuring every student can experience success in their chosen pursuits.

Our vision guides our decision making.

We pursue operational excellence, create a talent incubator environment, and aim for every family to be advocates and champions of our school.

 

The Frame

Throughout history maps have changed the world. They provide paths to new places. Think Ptolemy’s Geographia. Or the Orbis Terrae Compendiosia Decriptio by Geradus Mercator. Maps also reveal aspects of our past. They reveal what was and what is. Our Strategic Map to 2030 doesn’t guide us to any physical location but rather guides us to a common understanding of our future. It reveals what will be.

We are living in a time of disorientating uncertainty and boundless opportunity. We are not just map followers; we chart the course. Our Strategic Map is a dynamic and adaptive tool for our future – helping us make sense of an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

Every strategy for the future is based on an assessment of the future context in which it will live and be realised. We don’t stand still.

We honour the past, acknowledge the present, and set course for an ambitious and bold new future.

Guiding assumptions

Assumption 1
The future is arriving faster than we thought it would.

Assumption 2
We cannot assume things will be the way they are.

Assumption 3
The world will become increasingly uncertain as technology accelerates change.

Assumption 4
The interdependencies of geopolitics, globalisation, and climate change, along with the effects of greater urbanisation and the gradual decline of the world’s fertility rate, presents challenges that will require our sustained attention and effort.

Assumption 5
There will be new entrants into our market and new competitors so there is a need to look for ways to appropriately disrupt ourselves before someone else disrupts us.

Assumption 6
The increasing number of GenZ employees will bring vast changes to workforce expectations.

Assumption 7
The growth in demand for independent education in Australia will continue to increase.

Assumption 8
Government funding and policy change will continue to impact independent schools.

These guiding assumptions necessitate that those involved in the governance and management of the school continually examine the micro and macro factors that influence the ability of us realising our mission and vision.

Guiding Questions

As we stress test our strategy for uncertainty and weigh risk and opportunity costs, we continually ask ourselves:

Are we living our mission and vision?
What capabilities are critical to implementing our strategy?
What organisational architecture will make us capable in strategic ways?
Where is disruption likely to happen?
What are our biggest risks and opportunities and are we prepared?
What are our measures of success?
What impact do we want to have in the world?
What do we really care about?

The Process

We engaged our community in hands-on workshops and focus groups. We conducted surveys. We engaged in research. We asked ourselves “what is and is not going to change?” We conducted horizon scanning looking at the external factors influencing our school. We engaged experts to assist our sense making in a world of increasing complexity and ambiguity.

With permission to dream on an extensive scale about how we want to shape the school to continue to meet current and future challenges, the Strategic Map to 2030 provides three waypoints that will chart our continued growth and success: People, Place, and Programs.

People, Place and Programs are the three pillars of our strategy

People

People come first. Our priority is to harness our people as advocates and champions for our school, reflect the diverse community we live and work in, creating a culture of gratitude, enhanced community connections, and the building of capacity and capability.

Achieving our ambition requires:

Students

  • The student experience is at the heart of our school, and every decision made through this lens ensures we provide an education relevant to the needs of contemporary learners.
  • A broad curriculum providing pathways for all learners that engages, excites and inspires.
  • A comprehensive student leadership program that instils character and agency equipping our young people with the skills, tools, attitudes, attributes and dispositions, to be the next generation of world leaders.
  • A focus on servant leadership, service learning, and entrepreneurship as a core component of the student experience.
  • More avenues for student voice and input into school decision making championing international mindedness, equity, equality, and inclusion.

Staff

  • Acknowledging and celebrating staff expertise and capability both internally and externally through a variety of mechanisms.
  • Becoming a talent incubator environment offering best in class professional learning opportunities, targeted individual career trajectory and pathway plans, and unparalleled career advancement opportunities, ensuring outstanding teaching, leadership and administration through coordinated and tailored approaches.
  • Acquiring, developing, retaining, recognising, and rewarding staff through targeted programs, exceptional onboarding, and proactive recruitment ensuring alignment with the purpose, goals, and culture of the school.
  • Developing entry level middle managers at an accelerated rate and supporting their success via mentoring programs.
  • Providing some of the best workplace conditions in the sector including attractive salaries, benefits, and onsite allied health services.
  • Developing and documenting robust career succession planning and frameworks to drive organisational growth, ensuring a pipeline of talent and the retention of historical knowledge.

Governance

Undertaking annual Board evaluations.

Reviewing Board composition including conducting individual and Board skill mix assessments, diversity composition and gap analysis, via the development of a skills matrix.

Developing a program for ongoing Board professional development.

Establishing Board Performance Indicators aligned to the Strategi

Community

Improving school communications including developing a model that is driven algorithmically in which individualised and tailored content is delivered to community on their preferred platforms and at their point of need dependent on their connection, position and location within the school.

Becoming market leaders in customer service via the introduction of a solutions-focussed concierge model of service to increase customer satisfaction through tailored communications, fast response times, and above and beyond service in all encounters.

Community development in new and emerging markets and the nurturing of past, present, and future relationships.

Strengthening alumni engagement through the creation of networks inclusive of past staff and parents.

Enduring commitment to reconciliation and our connection to First Nations people.

Building a strong sense of community involvement in philanthropy for the future of the school.

Place

A sense of place is not only expressed through our buildings, landscapes, and virtual spaces, but also in a collective understanding of how we learn, work, play and celebrate, in ways that capture the culture, spirit, history, and future of our school.

Achieving our ambition requires:

Belonging and Engagement

  • To be a place where people want to work.
  • The creation of an enviable school and community culture.
  • Development and delivery of a new marketing and communications strategy supporting the success of all three campuses as one school, elevating a strong brand identity to a brand of prestige.

Infrastructure

  • Successful delivery of Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Masterplan and design package of Stage 3.
  • Staged delivery of Lovely Banks Campus initiated, and Stage 1 design and construction successfully delivered.
  • Maintenance and improvements of existing facilities, landscapes, and technological architecture and infrastructure utilising high level
    intelligence interrogating and designing for the needs of the future.
  • Optimise existing footprints, review optimal size of the school, improve wayfinding, lighting, and the walkability of each campus, enhancing
    outdoor spaces for recreational and educational activities.
Programs

Our programs are world class and excel in providing the skills, knowledge, experience, confidence, systems, structures and processes to ensure excellence in all that we do.

Achieving our ambition requires:

Teaching and Learning

  • Personalised learning and proactive and preventative wellbeing approaches and pathways catering to the diverse needs of our community.
  • Contemporary curricula offerings optimising learning and engagement and bi-annual timetable reviews to ensure efficiency and flexibility.
  • Seamless adoption of the middle school model and associated structural changes to both junior and senior schools including the reintegration of Year 9.
  • Successful implementation of Echoes and Dialogues, developing it into a flagship program across the school.
  • Development of a Leadership Institute for students, staff, and broader community, building on the success of Learning to Lead.
  • The introduction of systematic and structured student-led community service and service learning programs.
  • Development and implementation of a contemporary and meaningful review and feedback program for academic and professional staff.
  • Evolution of the AI Academy as an industry leading program ensuring today’s students are the creators of tomorrows technology.
  • Launch of the Westbourne Academy of Enrichment providing options during the holiday periods in interesting areas like AI, robotics, portraiture, language acquisition, broadening our offerings, increasing utilisation of physical space, and creating additional revenue streams.
  • Reconciliation via the implementation of our RAP is ingrained in a culture inclusive of workforce diversity and scholarship opportunities.

The Business

  • Sustained focus on operational excellence and a concierge model of customer service.
  • Improved financial performance through efficiencies and diversified revenue streams.
  • Establishing and delivering a corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy to make a positive social impact.
  • Developing opportunities for staff, students and alumni to conceive and launch new enterprise and social impact projects.
  • Development and delivery of the next iteration of a digital strategy positioning the school at the forefront of digital.
  • A comprehensive data management and asset strategy to enhance records management and provide actionable insights for faster, better, and more informed decision-making.
  • Increase in organisational cyber security maturity levels, controls and protocols for protecting, identifying, detecting, responding, and recovering from cyber threats.
  • Developing an enviable reputation for end-to-end human resources management, including recruitment, retention, on-boarding, development and staff wellbeing programs.
  • Develop management systems, structures and processes to maximise performance in line with our stated ambitions.
  • Delivery of an international student recruitment strategy, with a focus on the cultivation of primary markets, exploring emerging markets and the scaling of international short stay
    programs. Create significant additional revenue streams and provide further global experiences and perspectives for our day students.
  • Leading the sector in the use of AI, enhancing customer experience, creating an immersive and personalised learning environment, increasing productivity, and using data to analyse, predict, forecast and leverage positive outcomes.
  • Scaling the rollout of allied health services and other benefits for students, staff, and parents.
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