Resource information
Keeping students in school beyond year 10 is an area of focus for Circular Head Christian School, and three years ago it made structural and pedagogical changes to address this. The principal, Ara Popowski, began her journey with the independent school, located in the top north-west corner of Tasmania, as a parent helper then moved through positions as a teacher’s aide, teacher, learning support coordinator, head of school, assistant principal and principal. Ara’s career path demonstrates the power of employing from within the community in rural areas as a strategy to develop and retain great leaders.
This case study has a key focus on the Professional Practices ‘Leading improvement, innovation and change’ and ’Engaging and working with the community’.
This is part of a Leading for impact case study series. The videos provide insight into high-impact leadership across 4 Australian schools, each with 2 videos.
The principal’s message outlines a challenge the school faced, the school’s response, and the skill set required to enact change successfully.
The case study provides examples of the distributed and collaborative nature of leadership to realise the school’s vision, demonstrated through the lens of the five Professional Practices of the Australian Professional Standard for Principals.
Make sure to visit the Leading for impact collection to find more videos and resources about the guidelines.
