Ipswich Grammar School decides on future of headmaster
Richard Morrison has been at the 157-year-old school since 2016 after time as principal of Bremer State High School.
Ipswich
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IPSWICH Grammar School headmaster Richard Morrison will remain in the role for a further five years, with his arrival credited for stopping a "serious" decline in student numbers.
Mr Morrison started at the 157-year-old school in 2016 after time as principal of Bremer State High School.
He has renewed his contract through to the end of 2025.
IGS has more than 1000 boys enrolled this year, which is the first time it has cracked four figures since 2013.
Mr Morrison said a significant community consultation was undertaken upon his arrival to determine where things had fallen off track.
"We felt our integration into the local and wider Ipswich community needed to be a lot stronger than perhaps it had been in more recent years," he said.
"We worked very hard at that. I think we're on the right path but we're certainly not complacent.
"We want to continue pursuing our vision statement, which is exceptional performance.
"That's what galvanises our place and it has done for the last four years."
Work has begun on the $10 million STEM facility, which is the first new building in the secondary school in more than 35 years.
"(We want to) honour tradition but embrace change," Mr Morrison said.
"We certainly know we can't stand still and that's reflected in the fact we've been pretty innovative around explicit teaching and we've been innovative around our approach to ATAR."
In a statement, the school's board of trustees chair David Edwards said Mr Morrison had a "clear vision" for the future, while respecting the school's history.
"In the last four years we have addressed serious enrolment decline and are now experiencing enrolment growth that will see us achieve significant outcomes in 2020," he said.
"Reaching enrolment targets allow us to invest back into the school such as the construction of our new STEM building."
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