Since 1901, Ravenswood School for Girls has embraced a strong tradition of educational excellence, developing young women of purpose who are empowered and inspired by the highest quality of teaching and learning experiences. We are guided by our Christian ethos and Guiding Principles of Excellence, Respect, Courage, Compassion and Optimism.

Recognised as a leading school in the area of Positive Education, Ravenswood was the first school in New South Wales to adopt a Visible Wellbeing approach. Our girls often refer to the keen sense of belonging they experience and the warmth of the School’s atmosphere.

Ravenswood is located in Sydney’s picturesque and leafy upper North Shore, 15 kilometres from Sydney’s city centre and within five minutes walk of the main train line. Our girls enjoy beautiful, idyllic grounds and award-winning, world-class facilities. Their opportunities are broadened further by our relationship with our brother school, Knox Grammar School.

Ravenswood is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School that uses the framework of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in the Junior School and offers a choice between the New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC) and the IB Diploma in Years 11-12. It is the only school on the Upper North Shore that offers the flexibility of both the HSC and IB Diploma.

Complementing our curriculum, Positive Education offers a range of evidence-based approaches from the field of Positive Psychology that promote wellbeing. These are delivered through interventions, programs and practices that actively cultivate the dispositions of optimism, resilience, grit and compassion for others, as well as the importance of strengths-based language in our daily interactions.

Our Visible Wellbeing approach and Wellbeing Program form a multi-layered system of support and guidance provided by highly qualified and experienced educators including Class Teachers, Mentor Teachers, Year Coordinators, Stage Assistant Coordinators, Head of Senior School, Deputy Principal – Boarding, Wellbeing and Development, and the Head of Positive Education. The School Chaplain, Psychologists, Learning Enrichment team, our therapy dog Daisy, and the Health Care Unit are also available to our girls for support, guidance and advice.

Our Global Experience and Social Justice Programs provide inter-cultural and service learning through overseas and interstate educational visits, study of languages and exchange programs.

Ravenswood’s sport for all philosophy delivers opportunities for every girl, promoting both inclusiveness and the physical and mental wellbeing aspects of sport.

Ravenswood boarding opened in 1935, catering to girls from wider Sydney, country NSW, interstate and overseas. Ravenswood has received the 2022 Excellence Award for Best Boarding School (2022 Australian Education Awards).

The Ravenswood Residential College (RRC) is a home away from home, providing a safe and caring 'boutique' environment for up to 50 students in Years 7–12. College staff are trained in Ravenswood’s award-winning Positive Education and Visible Wellbeing approach, ensuring the girls develop strong and meaningful relationships, in a family-like atmosphere.

The Ravenswood Residential College is also a first-class learning and living experience, with academic support and an endless choice of co-curricular activities. Staff in the College nurture a passion for learning and include a network of illustrious Ravenswood alumni, who serve as nightly tutors.

Anne Johnstone BA, LLB (Hons), GradDipEd, MAPP (UPenn), CF, MACEBA, LLB (Hons), GradDipEd, MAPP (UPenn), CF, MACEPhD Candidate (Uni Melb), Chair Positive Education Schools Association (PESA), Deputy Chair International Positive Education Network (IPEN)

The Principal of Ravenswood School for Girls, Mrs Anne Johnstone, is an internationally recognised educational leader renowned for her pioneering work in the field of Positive Education and the wellbeing of young people.

Anne is the Chair and a founding Board Member of the national Positive Education in Schools Association (PESA) and the Vice-Chair of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN).

Anne holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) degree, and a Graduate Diploma of Education. In addition, Anne holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania. Her thesis for this degree was completed under the supervision of the founder of Positive Psychology, Professor Martin Seligman, and it was recognised as a distinguished capstone. Anne is currently completing a PhD under the supervision of Professor Lea Waters at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. The focus of Anne’s doctoral research is on helping young people develop a mindset that promotes wellbeing.

Anne was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2004 to explore ways to foster resilience in learning. She conducted this study while based at Cambridge University in England. In 2018, Anne was awarded the Australian Speech and Communication Association Award for Excellence. In 2019, Anne was one of just five educators globally, as well as the only female recipient, of an award recognising her pioneering work and leadership in Positive Education at a global summit held by the University of Pennsylvania and Eisenhower Fellowships in Philadelphia. In 2022, Anne received the 2022 Phyllis Evans Medal, an award presented to her on World Teachers’ Day by the Teachers' Guild of NSW that recognises 'a distinguished educator of great standing'. Anne was also recognised with an Excellence Award in the 2022 Australian Education Awards for School Principal Of the Year (Non-Government) category and was selected for The Educator’s Hot List 2022 for her innovative work in Positive Education and the education sector.

Prior to her appointment as Principal of Ravenswood, Anne was Principal of Seymour College in Adelaide. Before this, she was Deputy Headmistress and Head of Senior School at St Catherine’s School in Sydney, Australia’s oldest independent girls’ school. Anne also previously held the position of Head of the Junior School there. In the early years of her teaching Anne was awarded a NSW Teacher’s Guild Award for Excellence. Before pursuing her passion for teaching, Anne practised as a lawyer for four years, specialising in commercial litigation.

A nationally and internationally sought-after speaker and presenter, Anne is passionate about helping young people fulfil their potential and flourish in all aspects of their lives.

TRAIN OR BUS

The school is five minutes walk from Gordon Railway Station and Bus Interchange. Gordon Railway Station is on the North Shore line; five stops from Hornsby, providing access to the Central Coast and Epping Line and four stops from Chatswood, providing access to the City and Epping Line.

Ravenswood also offers a private bus service that provides safe and convenient transport of Junior School and Senior School Ravenswood girls to and from school. The service offers six routes with pickup and drop-off at the School gates, fixed timetables and routes, fully air-conditioned modern buses, and a mobile app to track the location of the bus.

Regular public bus services also operate from Gordon to St Ives, West Pymble, West Gordon, East Killara, Macquarie and the Northern Beaches.

Free Travel Passes are available for train, bus and ferry travel for Ravenswood students to and from home. There are conditions for different aged students

Ravenswood scholarships are: 

• Academic Scholarship
• Music Scholarship
• Kim Buchan All Rounder Scholarship
• The Margaret Donaldson Scholarship
• The Ravenswood Alumni Scholarship
• The Ravenswood Rural Residential Scholarship

For Ravenswood Scholarships enquiries, please contact enrol@ravenswood.nsw.edu.au.

Check our

• 2022 HSC Results
• Lastest Awards
• 2022 PESA Australasian Wellbeing in Education Conference
• Ravenswood's 120-Year Birthday Celebrations

Rachel Halliday Shand, Class of 2021

Rachel received a University of Sydney Chancellors Award Scholarship and now studies Arts Law. She dreams of working to address Indigenous incarceration rates or in European diplomacy with a focus on France. As a 2021 Community and Wellbeing Prefect, she contributed to causes such as Days for Girls and the Reconciliation Action Group. Rachel is grateful to Ravenswood's teachers, 'particularly the English Department because it is absolutely amazing.'

Laura Zhang, Class of 2021

Laura, IB Dux, was School Debating, Public Speaking and Voice Captain, and a Cadet. She was selected for the Yale Young Global Scholars Program and the United States Pioneer Academics Research Program, won Best Speaker Award at the Space Design Competition, reached the State Finals of the Evatt Trophy Competition, won the Senior Bic Art Award and the 2020 Gail Kelly Making a Difference Leadership Award. She is now studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Michelle Bulin, Class of 2021

Michelle was School Vice Captain and is now is studying Developmental and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. Michelle won the Chicago University Social Innovation Challenge, was selected for the New York Academy of Sciences program and was a member of the debating team and Secondary School Dance Company Blue Jazz. Her career goal is to run her own lab. ‘I want to work in inherited diseases and down the track, become a professor to pass on my knowledge.’

Phoebe Xu, Class of 2022

Zhen (Phoebe) Xu, a Ravenswood Music Scholarship holder, is a very talented oboe player who has won numerous music prizes throughout her schooling. She received the Barbara Robinson Award from the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra and was awarded first place in the senior section of the Australasian Double Reed Society National Conference in 2019. Phoebe also received the Players Award at the 2021 NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition.

Phoebe has been selected for the HSC Music Showcase ENCORE and has been accepted into the esteemed Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London. She intends to pursue her career either in music and play in a professional orchestra, hopefully in Europe to expand her horizons, or in science.

Jasmine Petty, Class of 2022

Year 12 student and IB Dux Jasmine Petty was Ravenswood School Vice-Captain in 2022. She has achieved a perfect IB score of 45 (ATAR equivalent of  99.95). This places her in the top 1% of IB students in the world. During her time at Ravenswood, Jasmine has won a number of academic and co-curricular awards including placing second for Interpretative Reading at the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship (2022) and winning the Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition (Chinese speaking competition for non-native Chinese speakers) in 2021 – awarded Oceania Champion. Jasmine aspires to work in creative industries or film production, writing scripts for film and television in the USA or China. 

Kayleigh Li, Class of 2022

School Debating Public Speaking and Voice CaptainKayleigh Li received a perfect IB score of 45, equivalent to an ATAR of 99.95. She is passionate about making her voice heard. She is a World Champion, winning the Interpretative Reading category at the 2022 World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships. Kayleigh hopes to study Law internationally. The achievement Kayleigh is the proudest of during her time at Ravenswood is the time she has dedicated to a range of social justice initiatives beyond the school gates which allowed her to volunteer and give back to the community. 

Maria Yang, Class of 2022

Maria Yang achieved a perfect ATAR of 99.95, and made it to the HSC All Round Acheivers List this year. She also received a Proficiency Prize and the Reuben F Scarf Award for Commitment, which acknowledges a Year 12 student’s ability to apply herself and work steadfastly towards her goals. 

Passionate about economics, her dream job would be to work for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) – she finds fascinating the influence that the RBA has on Australia’s economy. As a Ravenswood student, Maria loved the environment that the School had created, as well as its holistic approach that focuses on nurturing the students and their wellbeing, which she said really made her feel cared for.

The Ravenswood school community is comprised of girls from local, national, and global communities covering a diverse range of nationalities. We welcome and celebrate the diverse cultures at Ravenswood and the significant contribution each girl brings to the life of the school. 

Ravenswood has also established partnerships with a number of overseas schools in Asia, Europe, Canada, the USA, and New Zealand, providing the opportunity for language and cultural exchange programs.