This week, I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Invergowrie Foundation, a charitable organisation which provides grants and support to advance the education of girls and women in Victoria. The Foundation seeks to enable access, promote excellence, advance leadership and support research by and about girls and women in science, technology and mathematics. It has a current focus on increasing the engagement of girls in STEM education and building their confidence and capabilities in this area, so they are well prepared for the future.

In 2017 the Invergowrie Foundation commissioned a research piece to provide a current snapshot of girls and STEM using data from Australia and overseas. This research was undertaken by The University of Melbourne and Deakin University in partnership and culminated in Girls’ Future – Our Future, The Invergowrie Foundation STEM report. Based on this initial research the Foundation identified 3 areas where it could contribute to the development of STEM education for girls and women in Victoria: The provision of scholarships that support quality students to continue their tertiary studies in a STEM area; the improvement of teaching and learning in STEM subjects; and developing and building the capacity of career advisors and teachers. These priorities align with our desire at Lowther Hall to equip our girls to love and be interested in Science, Technology and Mathematics subjects. I was thrilled this week when I met with the Year 1 girls as part of their transition program, to hear from many of them how much they have enjoyed their study of bees and native plants this week and to find them able to explain many of the aspects of these inquiry projects with great clarity. In Senior School on Year 10 camp, there was also plenty of enthusiastic anticipation in relation to STEM subjects that had been selected for study in 2025, with Year 11 leaders also offering positive reflections about their studies in Science, Maths and Computing. As usual, the graduating class of Year 12s this year sees many girls planning to pursue these subjects at the tertiary level and I am confident that they will each make an incredibly valuable contribution in their chosen field, combining their knowledge and skills with a strong values base and a proven capacity for empathy and nuanced thinking. One of the things that was confirmed in the Invergowrie STEM report was the importance of role models for our girls in STEM. I am grateful that the Maths, Technology and Science teachers at Lowther Hall are some of our most passionate educators, sharing their love of biology, chemistry, psychology, physics, algebra, statistics, coding and many other pursuits with the girls on a daily basis. As the summer term break draws closer, consider the many ways that family activities can also foster an enthusiasm for STEM in the girls – be it through discussions about physics while on rides at a theme park or playground, inviting questions about plants and animals during a visit to the zoo or gardens, undertaking home experiments on a rainy afternoon or honing mathematical thinking during a day of cooking, shopping or redecorating – there are many ways in which we can provide an environment that will encourage a curiosity for these subjects! Thank you to all families who already inspire a love of all things STEM: it is wonderful to work in partnership with you to create the next generation of computer programmers, engineers, architects, doctors, researchers and inventors!
Ms Elisabeth Rhodes
Principal