Marrara Christian College welcomes Christine Hibma as principal

A long-time educator has moved across the country to take on one school’s top job after she fell in love with the community more than a decade ago.

Christine Hibma is the new principal of Marrara Christian College, starting in the role in 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Victorian principal Christine Hibma is set to take on the top job at Marrara Christian College in 2025, more than a decade after she fell in love with the school as a relief teacher.

Ms Hibma said she had been working with Christian Education National for the entirety of her career but became involved with MCC during a family road trip around the country in 2013.

“The idea was 12-24 months, but we spent six months here in Darwin and I did some relief teaching here at Marrara and it captured part of our hearts,” she said.

“I remember driving out of Darwin at the end of that time and you know, my little Facebook post was, ‘we’ve left a bit of our heart back in Darwin, maybe one day we’ll come back for it’.”

Christine Hibma is the new principal of Marrara Christian College, starting in the role in 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Having come back for the piece of heart Ms Hibma left behind, the tenured educator said she looked forward to building strong relationships with the “wonderful” school and Darwin community.

“I am passionate about what I do and I believe that every child should be able to achieve,” she said.

“Whether that’s somebody who’s struggling with learning needs or something, they should have the opportunity to grow – whether that’s somebody who’s strong academically, there’s room for growth.

“Every student should have the opportunity.”

Ms Hibma said listening and learning would take up a critical component of her role while she settled in.

Having taken time to meet some of the school’s staff in October, she said it was clear the school wanted to work on “building character as well as academics”.

“There’s always work to do (around) raising academic standards and building that safe place for students to learn well,” she said.

The Department of Education and Training is currently advertising 10 principal roles in 10 schools across the Territory, with four more searching for assistant principals.

The 2025 school year begins on 29 January for teachers and 30 January for students.

Originally published as Marrara Christian College welcomes Christine Hibma as principal