Australia’s Best Teachers: How Adelaide principal kept school from closing

School principal Wendy House has fought an “exhausting battle” to keep her school from closing. And she’s finally won. Here’s how she did it.

Principals are often described as the backbone of our school system but the momentous task of creating a caring and disciplined environment is often paved with hardship. For Wendy House, just keeping her school gates open became a relentless mission.

Ms House started at Springbank Secondary College in Pasadena, south of Adelaide, 10 years ago and spent seven of those fighting off two school closures.

Ms House said the exhausting battle alongside her students and their parents to keep the school self-standing was worth it.

In 2017, when the school was facing an uphill battle to keep its doors open, there were only 65 students enrolled, but Ms House argued that “there needs to be an alternative to the big schools”.

Principal Wendy House, Springbank Secondary College in Pasadena, with year 12 students, Eden Hamilton,17, and Sam Ormsby, 19. Picture Dean Martin

“The biggest threat came in 2020 when I was told the school would close at the end of that year. It took months of working through review processes and campaigning to convince them to keep it open,” said Ms House, who was among more than a dozen school principals nominated for News Corp’s Australia’s Best Teachers series.

“There are kids who can fall through the cracks in big schools and we have a high proportion of kids who have physical or emotional needs.”

To survive, Springbank Secondary College became an interdisciplinary school, adding Arts to the traditional STEM program (now known as STEAM in the school), and launching a basketball academy. There are currently 220 students enrolled – neighbouring schools have six or seven times that number.

Raising attendance in Indigenous communities in the NT

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Her students seem to thrive in this small school environment, but beyond the classroom Ms House is proud of how the students support each other.

“After listening to the news the SRC (Student Representative Council) organised a fundraiser and raised $600 for another local school that was impacted by the floods. When your young people are caring for the community you know you’re getting the culture right,” she said.

For Gapuwiyak School principal Christopher O’Neill, the challenge was to make the adjustment from teaching in a mainstream school in Melbourne, to embracing a “fluid” style of education in Arnhem Land.

Having spent the last 12 years in the Northern Territory, specifically working with schools in this historic region, Mr O’Neill said community and cultural involvement is paramount in this area.

Principal Chris O'Neill in Arhnem Land, NT

“It is such a fluid environment in the Territory and we haven’t nailed attendance yet,” he said.

“We have 230 kids enrolled from preschool to Year 12, but we’re in a transient area, so we might get 130 a day. In the Arnhem region families move around also for cultural reasons … we have a close relationship with the community so we can keep track of the kids’ academic progress.”

Gapuwiyak School’s education is predominantly in English, as dictated by the inaugural principal who was an Aboriginal elder, but the cultural identity of the Yolngu people, who inhabit northeastern Arnhem Land, plays a major role in the classroom.

“From our standpoint, we strongly encourage culture and language (Yolngu Matha) and we’ve invested in Yolngu teachers, because it’s more empowering for students to see Indigenous staff.”

Originally published as Australia’s Best Teachers: How Adelaide principal kept school from closing