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Teenage girls attending single-sex schools have coped better than most throughout the pandemic, with a national survey ­revealing above-average levels of life satisfaction, happiness and confidence in the future.

This year, Strathcona will expand independent learning for the senior school, giving girls the chance to use extra time for activities including study groups, meetings with teachers and extra tutorials.

Principal, Mrs Marise McConaghy reflects on remote learning in CIO Magazine. 2020 was a year of fast learning, adaptability and a myriad new skills development. “…students have learnt to use a wide range of new technologies and tools in the remote learning context, and in the process they’ve developed new skills and have been able to exert greater autonomy over their learning” and teachers have had the opportunity to rethink and reframe their role from “…less as ‘knowledge delivery systems’ and more as mentors, guides and collaborators.” Read more about the transformation of 2020.

Deciding whether or not to send your child to early learning is one of a parent’s most important considerations, especially at this time of the year.

If you’re still on the fence about it, that’s ok, many parents are. After all, it’s a very personal decision and one that doesn’t have a right or wrong answer.

The events of this year have taught us many lessons — perhaps the most significant one being that our students have remarkable resilience and aptitude for new ways of learning. We underestimated students’ desire and capacity to be self-organised, self-motivated and independent, and although we suspected this in many of them, the pandemic has forced us to move away from traditional structures and given students a chance to prove themselves extremely capable in charting their own paths.

Debate has often raged about whether single-sex schools are better than co-ed schools, but now a study has lifted the lid on why — when it comes to girls — it could be the best choice.

Returning to school and reconnecting in person will be something our students may feel apprehensive about. Senior School Psychologist Mrs Kerri Rhodes talks to The Parent Website about four things students and parents can do to ease the transition out of the home bubble.