It’s not just the Principal’s job to lead…

Although Sinek’s Ted Talk is now over a decade old, his philosophical approach to leadership being centred upon your ‘why,’ also defined as your personal vision statement, is as pertinent to leadership and organisational development now, as it was in 2010. My personal ‘why’ is to build capacity in individuals, teams, and originations. When I action my ‘why,’ I am like a pig in the mud! I love identifying, developing, and empowering people to lead while creating the structure that enable them to shine. I think this is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about Annesley. When I joined Annesley, there was a small team of committed staff working with a small group of students. I was encouraged by the School Council to action my ‘why’ and as Principal of a progressive, growing school, I have been able to weave my personal vision into every element of my working week. We now have over 80 employees and a vast range of professional partners, along with a student population over 420. We look forward to welcoming more new students enrolled to commence in Term 2.

As a school, Annesley is now reaping the rewards of our team’s sustained focus on leadership identification and development. This, combined with our enhanced organisational structures, enable us to develop our students and staff skills, strengths, and passions to create belonging and impact. We believe that every child is capable now, not just in the future, and every member of our team has the capacity to lead with this mantra front of mind.

As our numbers have grown, our organisational structure has too. In the past two years we have added a new tier of leadership at Annesley; Coordinators. These leaders play key roles across our school and I am grateful for each of the dedicated and creative people that hold these positions;

• Coordinator of Early Years, Alicia Clare
• Coordinator of Innovation & Technologies, Ashleigh Flavel
• Coordinator of Sport & Experiential Learning, Kin McLean
• Coordinator of Personalised Learning, Gail Millar-Luke
• Coordinator of Licensed Services, Leigh Laidler

Last year we launched our new Strategic Plan, Our Future Map 2021-2025, created in conjunction with leading educational futurist and CEO, Louka Parry. We have also conducted a review of our Senior Leadership Team’s structure, to ensure these key roles enable our dynamic senior leaders to have the time and resources to be aware, investing in and supporting the various teams across our growing school.

From the beginning of Term 2, the structure of Annesley’s Senior Leadership Team will be;

• Principal, Luke Ritchie
• Business Manager, Alex McCole
• Director of Learning and Teaching (ELC – Year 6), David Taylor
• Director of Primary School (Reception – Year 6), Jo Rossiter
• Director of ELC and Daily Operations, Donna Nicolle

Annesley is flourishing. These key leaders, all of whom are performing at a high capacity, are investing in our staff and students every day. Annesley’s leadership depth and capacity shone this week when Kin, our Coordinator of Sport and Experiential Learning, along with one of our Student Leaders, Eamon, hosted two significant visitors on behalf of the whole school. Margery Evans, Chief Executive of Independent Schools Australia and Carolyn Grantskalns, Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia, are two influential voices in education across our nation. They toured Annesley with Kin and Eamon, enjoying our Robotics Day (a new initiative of our student Board of Directors in partnership with our Coordinator of Innovation and Technologies) and a student made coffee in the Bouncing Bean Café. This tour could’ve easily been facilitated by members of the Senior Leadership Team who were on site, but we love sharing leadership responsibilities throughout our team and Kin and Eamon were outstanding hosts. Collective responsibility for leadership enables Annesley to continue its growth and development, focusing on personalising the school experience for every child.

PS: In a future newsletter, I’ll share how our students are also key and trusted leaders in our organisation.

Luke Ritchie
Principal