Education

Girton Grammar

Community insights for a flourishing regional school

Girton Grammar is a leading independent school in Bendigo, Victoria. The school has long prioritised a holistic education where student wellbeing is the cornerstone of learning. Girton engaged McCrindle to run their school stakeholder engagement study using the Thriving Schools Index to move beyond anecdotal evidence and gain a data-driven understanding of the school community’s health and performance.

The Challenge

The leadership team identified a need for a pulse check of the school community. The goal was to gather clear, evidence-based insights from parents, staff, and students to identify current strengths and highlight strategic areas for improvement, particularly as the school looks toward the future.

The Solution

Girton utilised McCrindle’s Thriving Schools Index (TSI), a stakeholder study designed to measure the health of a school community across six key domains:

Student Development
Teaching
Student Wellbeing
Schooling Experience
Connection and Belonging
Leadership

To address Girton’s specific regional context and unique wellbeing initiatives, the study integrated custom questions into the survey. The bespoke questions allowed the school to gather additional insights into topical areas for the school.

"The Thriving Schools Index gave us a clear, evidence-based picture of our community. It allowed us to celebrate our strengths while providing the data that gave insight into our opportunity areas”

－ Kieren Noonan Executive Director Strategy and Operations

Deliverables

Insights summary report – A visual report featuring a full-page breakdown of scores for each stakeholder group (parents, staff, and students) with key recommendations from the study.
National benchmarking – Comparison of Girton’s results against a national benchmark
Research presentation – A virtual briefing with the board and leadership team to walk through the findings and discuss next steps.