Wilderness is one of approximately 200 like-minded schools across 50 countries which collaborate to offer world-class programs and experiences, developing global competence, character and confidence in our students.

Collectively, Round Square Schools believe that it is our responsibility to shape the way in which our students understand, prepare for, and respond to the world’s challenges both now and in the future. This requires a change in the perception of the value of character education and values-based learning throughout our education systems.

In order to equip our students for positive, active and engaged global citizenship we must offer them more than academic knowledge and qualifications. We also need to engage them in opportunities to develop their understanding of internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, leadership and service as well as their sense of adventure.

The Round Square community cares passionately about what happens to our world in the future and to the variety of cultures and communities it supports. Together, we want those communities to thrive and prosper and care about each other with mutual cooperation. To achieve this, we need courageous and compassionate leaders throughout the world who are prepared to discover and embrace different cultures and nationalities in ways that promote meaningful and lasting understanding and respect.

Being a Round Square School offers our girls opportunities to take part in a range of initiatives including challenges, collaborations, exchanges and conferences with students from like-minded schools. They are challenged to be risk takers and develop a global understanding.

Wilderness has formally worked with Project Zero since 2014, although our informal connection with their work began in the early years of the twenty first century when Wilderness teachers engaged with the Visible Thinking project.

As part of the Harvard Graduate School for Education, Project Zero comprises leading educational thinkers and researchers who meld research with practice with the aim of creating educational institutions which prepare our students with the dispositions that will enable them to thrive throughout their lives.

Founded on the mission “…to understand and enhance learning, thinking and creativity for individuals and groups in the arts and other disciplines”, Ron Ritchhart, Wilderness School scholar-in-residence, worked with our teachers to consider pictures of educational practice. He supported them to leverage the cultural forces already present in the classroom to develop a culture of thinking in which student thinking is visible, valued and actively promoted.

As a result of this training, Wilderness teachers intentionally focus on fostering the kinds of thinking that lead to understanding and deep learning. They make time for deep thinking, use a language of thinking and document students’ thinking processes.

Our teachers are intentional in their learning design, deliberately providing authentic opportunities for our students to think, create and question.

The Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia is a leading voice for the advancement of girls’ education.

The Alliance advocate for, and support, the distinctive work of girls’ schools in their provision of unparalleled opportunities for girls. They contribute to the development and promotion of education in Australasia and the empowerment of young women to reach their potential and become influential contributors to our complex and changing world.

Representing over 132,000 girls and over 17,000 educators, as a member, Wilderness is connected to educators from 190 schools across six countries.

Girl Up helps girls access their inner power to advance the skills, rights and opportunities of girls everywhere around the world.

Founded by the United Nations Foundation in 2010, Girl Up is a global movement to champion girls along their journey from leader to changemaker.

Offering specialised programming on global gender issues and in organising, advocacy, fundraising and communication, it provides our girls with an opportunity to grow their leadership skills, self-confidence, personal accountability and to be empowered.

The Sony Foundation Camp is a unique respite program that aims to improve the wellbeing of children with special needs through positive experiences and collaboration with young people.

The Children’s Holiday Camp Program sees Year 10 and 11 students from Wilderness School and St Peter's College, take on the responsibility for the care of children with disability, allowing their families to have a valuable weekend off.

At camp, each child, or ‘camper’, is assigned two carers or ‘companions’ comprising a student from Wilderness and another from St Peter's College. Together the companions are responsible for the daily care needs, social interactions and activities for their camper.

This is a valuable and eye-opening experience for our girls, where they learn about the challenges and opportunities that come with caring for a child with special needs, but also about their own self-management.

At Wilderness School, the daily review of lessons and learning experiences, in the light of their impact on the girls’ learning, is part of the daily experience of being a professional educator.

Formal evaluation of curriculum from a whole school perspective occurs every couple of years, in response to technological change, introduction of new state and national curricula and the emergence of innovative ideas and opportunities that we believe will support the School’s mission and help our girls to thrive. By facilitating learning relationships with national and international faculty we are able to advance the implementation of a world class learning framework.

To support us in this venture and to act as our next scholar-in-residence, following in the footsteps of Lee Crockett, Michael Francis and Ron Ritchhart, we are pleased that Valerie Westwell has joined us.

Valerie has been a curriculum consultant in a number of curriculum authorities in both Australia and the United Kingdom. She brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding of current developments in curriculum, assessment and pedagogy, having worked with some of the world experts in this field, including Dylan William and Guy Claxton. More recently, she has written resources and guides regarding the Australian Curriculum for the South Australian Department of Education and Child Development.

Wilderness is also pleased to be working with global learning experts Valerie Hanon and David Price.

Valerie Hannon co-founded Innovation Unit (UK and Australia) and has supported education change programs globally. She is Co-Chair of the Global Education Leaders Partnership (GELP). Valerie is an expert adviser on education to the OECD (currently on the Education 2030 project). Her earlier books include Learning A Living: radical innovation in education for work (2013) and Redesigning Education (2013).

David Price is an expert in learning for a complex future. David writes, talks, trains and advises around the world, on some of the biggest challenges facing business, education and society. He has led innovative educational projects that have transformed practice in many countries. In 2009, he was awarded the O.B.E. for Services to Education, by Her Majesty the Queen.

At Wilderness we inspire purpose and engagement in the learning experiences of each girl by collaborating with global experts.

Our industry partnerships and experts in residence provide further opportunities for our girls to enquire about the world, develop entrepreneurial capabilities and demonstrate their mastery while strengthening their personal growth.

Each year Wilderness welcomes a number of industry professionals who bring broader insight into the learning experience. This includes experts in STEM, Health, Music, Art, Marketing, Space, Cyber Security, IT and Business.

Our alliances with industry leaders not only connect our students with industry professionals and key industry organisations, they empower Wilderness graduates to reimagine their aspirations beyond traditional career pathways and to consider new frontiers so they can grasp and leverage the endless opportunities available in the economies of the future.

Growing up is not always easy and childhood and adolescence are made more challenging by the many influences that abound in an increasingly complex social and digital world.

We are constantly striving to ensure that we remain aware of and alert to the pressures and social norms that our girls face at all stages of their development.

This program is designed to provide our parents and girls with the opportunity to hear from and work with some of the best speakers in Australia. It provides an opportunity to raise topics and start conversations with our girls that will help them to face the challenges of growing up successfully by making good, well informed choices.

By working in partnership with parents, we can provide our girls with strategies and knowledge to make the best decisions for a safe, healthy and fulfilling life.