Lucy M. Gowdie, Head of School
25 October 2024


I shine a spotlight very brightly on our leadership structure this week and share exciting news, as we begin our planning for the next academic year.

In line with our strategic direction, and our commitment to ensuring that every child in our school is known for who they are as people and as learners, we have worked to rethink the structure of our school leadership model and the support mechanisms we have in place to enable our young people to succeed.

For the first time in the history of our school, we will appoint a Middle School Principal.

Commencing in August of 2025, this Principal will be responsible for Grades 5 to 8.

We believe we have listened, and we have learned that the evolution of students from Grade 5 to Grade 6 can be challenging, and we want to work to innovate in this space and consider what the curriculum needs to be, and how we can adapt this learning experience for our students.

We believe we have listened, and we have learned that students in Grade 7 and Grade 8 face many social struggles, need strong and stable support, and so the role of Middle School Principal becomes pertinent to the pastoral programme we design and the power of the curriculum we build in support of their success.

This means that Mr Gabriel Di Mauro, recently appointed to the traditional Secondary Principal role, will undertake the position of Senior School Principal – responsible for students in Grades 9 to 12.

Gabriel has spent the past week on campus, learning about the school, its systems and most importantly of all our students. We are grateful that he gave us this time and was able to formally commence the handover from Mr James Penstone, who will leave us in December.

We believe that students in Grade 9 need targeted support as they grow into older adolescents, and we know that students in Grade 10 face challenges in adjusting to the rigor of academia at the higher end of the school. Like Grade 5 to Grade 6, we understand the trepidation of our students going from Grade 10 to Grade 11 and so we will focus on this experience and adapt and innovate accordingly.

The role of Primary Principal, recently advertised, will oversee the remit of Nursery to Grade 4, working closely with the Middle School Principal to design a seamless learning journey for our littlest learners.

I take this opportunity to thank you, our parents, for the commitment you have to the community that is ours, and for the support you will show our new leadership team in the coming academic year.

I look forward to announcing the Primary and Middle School Principals in the coming months.

Kind regards,

Lucy M. Gowdie
Head of School