Meet the principal shaping the next generation of female leaders at Loreto Kirribilli
Instilling self-belief in girls needs to happen at school so they can break the glass ceiling, says Loreto Kirribilli principal Nicole Archard.
Nicole took up the top job at the independent Catholic school for girls in January and says the ‘stars aligned’ with the appointment. “I was the principal of Loreto Marryatville in Adelaide, but I am originally from Sydney, so I was fortunate to combine the two things that I love the most – leading a Loreto school and being back in my home town,” Nicole says.
Having worked as principal of the Adelaide school for seven years, Nicole understands the purpose behind a Loreto education, which is to ‘educate young women and girls to be the leaders of change in the world’. “And in doing that it is about developing them to be good people that can contribute to society in a positive way,” she says.
Nicole labels herself a ‘girls’ school specialist,’ having completed a PhD on women in leadership and girls’ education. Throughout her career she has maintained an interest in ‘studying leadership and the impacts of leadership on women and why women are missing from leadership positions in society’.
“The premise of that PhD was really about understanding how a girls’ school environment could help address some of the gender inequity concerns that we see in relation to women being absent from leadership roles later in their life,” Nicole says.
At the school, which caters for Kindergarten to Year 12, girls are given the opportunity to develop their capacity for leadership from a young age. Nicole explains that it is important for girls to have female leaders as role models, and equally important for them to believe they have the capacity to fulfill that role.
“That self-belief has to be developed at a young age so that girls will put themselves forward and they won’t shy away from this notion of doubt (for example, thinking) ‘Someone else is a leader and I’m not,’” she explains. “Women missing from leadership roles is a very complex social phenomenon. It doesn’t just come down to one thing, but how we develop the mindset of girls in relationship to their capacity is very important. And we certainly get the opportunity to do that at a school level.”
Nicole also chairs the NSW advisory board for the International Coalition of Girls Schools, which is a network of girls’ schools from Australia, America and the United Kingdom working to share and promote best practice in girls’ education.
On arriving at Loreto Kirribilli, Nicole was greeted by staff and students wearing a touch of pink, the principal’s favourite colour, which she sees as an oxymoron, as she strongly promotes gender equality. But she uses it as an example to talk to her students about how stereotypes don’t need to define them. “My favourite colour can be pink, but I can be a strong female leader,” she says. “It’s a good discussion point.”
Looking forward, Nicole cites social media as being a significant challenge for young people, saying there is much work to do in building student’s self-belief and acceptance so they can deflect other people’s judgement. “It’s a very complex world in which our girls and young women participate in,” she adds.
“Being able to be a leader of a girls’ school is probably the best job in the world. It’s just a privilege to be able to have an influence on the lives of girls and to play a small role in the women they are going to become in the future,” Nicole says.