Overview

Just over a decade ago in 1991 the Heads of a selection of girls' schools in Victoria felt that it was time to respond to what former Principal of Korowa Anglican Girls' School, Dr Ros Otzen, recalls was the depiction of girls' schools as "fuddy duddy left-overs of a bygone era". To challenge this claim Dr Otzen called together the Victorian Heads of AHISA Girls' Schools and from this first meeting was born The Education of Girls in Girls' Schools Focus Group (EGGSFG).

Following a year where group members learned to relate to each other in a manner never before experienced a very successful first conference was held at MLC Kew. This success led to the realisation that the group had "real power" and in 1995 EGGSFG was transformed into The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia.

At the Alliance's first AGM in May 1996 membership was extended to all girls' schools in Australia and New Zealand whether independent, government or Catholic. Sectoral differences were overridden by the common purposes of girls' schools. On 18 August 1997 the Alliance was incorporated and in January 2003 with the membership of Raffles Girls' School in Singapore the Alliance gained its first Asian member. In 2004 The Alliance got its first Hong Kong and South African members. With the globalisation of membership it was decided to remove the word Australasia from the organisation's name.

The Alliance has gone from strength to strength over the last decade and now has a membership of 130 schools.

The Alliance

• has held 12 very successful Annual Conferences and these are now to be held every two years
• runs a Student Leadership Conference in January for girls embarking on leadership roles in member schools
• produces a highly acclaimed magazine, in Alliance
• produces a regularly updated brochure entitled Why a Girls' School?
• provides a network for teachers in girls' schools to learn from the experiences of their colleagues
• conducts research on behalf of its members
• organises tours of international and national speakers relevant to girls' education in girls' schools
• has affiliations with similar organisations in the United States and Great Britain

More information about each of our activities will unfold as you move through the Alliance website.

The Alliance is a vibrant and vital body within the Australian education sector. Its support for "variety, quality and choice" and the improvement of education offered in girls' schools has led to its recognition and endorsement within the education community.

As Dr Otzen reflected in 2002 when she stood down as President of the Alliance:

We are no longer spoken of as some sort of crack-pot breakaway group on the fringes of real education, but as a significant strong organisation, whose opinion is sought, and whose sector is extraordinarily successful in the education task.