New Stuartholme School principal opens up about emotional moment he scored top job

A music teacher who still loves to lead choirs has been revealed as the new principal of one of Queensland’s best girls’ schools. He says his mum, who supervised its boarders when he was a boy, cried when he told her the news.

Stuartholme School has announced its Acting Principal and former Deputy Principal, Daniel “Danny’’ Crump, will take over the reins at the century-old Toowong Catholic girls’ school.

The announcement was made at a Celebration of Excellence event at QPAC on Thursday (October 20) night.

The promotion completes a long circle for Mr Crump, who as a young boy loved to run through the corridors when his mum landed a job overseeing the boarders.

“Mum cried when I told her. It was very emotional for her as it’s full circle now,’’ he said.

“Mum was from a big Catholic family and Catholic education has always been important to us, so when my family moved from Toowomba mum got a job supervising in the boarding house.

“I was running around the dormitories as a four-year-old.’’

A two-decade teaching veteran who has been deputy since 2020, he took over leadership in an acting capacity after Kristen Sharpe retired early in June due to health reasons.

She had led the day and boarding school for six-and-a-half years.

Mr Crump, a 2021 TEACHX awards finalist, was instrumental in guiding the school through one of its most challenging periods, during Covid lockdowns.

Danny Crump has been announced as the new principal of Stuartholme School.

At one point, boarders were isolated in their dormitories for several weeks due to infection fears.

The school went on to win awards for its innovative online learning modules which helped students studying from home.

Mr Crump also recognised very early on that teachers needed support and devised programs to help them cope.

He worked in the tertiary sector before taking a job at a Charters Towers boarding school, later spending 16 years at Mount Alvernia College.

He has lectured in aural pedagogy including musicianship, choral conducting and methodology.

Stuartholme School is one of the best girls’ schools in the state.

But it was teaching students which he really loved — and something he still did.

“I just love teaching, I love it to death,’’ he said.

“I still take classes and lead the choir.

“We as teachers have the opportunity to shape young minds, the people who will be making our future.’’

Mr Crump was a finalist last year in the coveted Queensland College of Teachers awards in the Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning category, a tribute to his skills and love of the job.

“When I arrived at Stuartholme there was a very strong academic program and a very strong wellness program. There was an opportunity to strengthen the link between the two,” he said.

This year has been a milestone for the school, which announced in June that it would take students in Year 5 for the first time, from 2024, as the first intake in its new Junior School.

Year 6 students would be accepted from 2025 under a tailored Junior School program.

Kristen Sharpe led Stuartholme with distinction until retiring early in June.

Plans were under way to begin construction next year on a dedicated Junior School precinct which would include classrooms, toilets and an outdoor play and recreation area.

Mr Crump said overseeing the Year 5/6 transition would be a key priority.

But he was also committed to progressing the school’s masterplan and its proposed sports precinct on the old Freers Farm potato chip factory site, adjacent to the Toowong campus.

And he was looking forward to implementing a new teaching and learning plan next year as well as expanding its scholarships, particularly for boarding students from remote and regional areas.

Stuartholme, which celebrated its centenary in 2020, takes day and boarding students and regularly tops the state for NAPLAN results and sporting achievement.