1. Friday 11 March 2011

2. Cheryl Bauer Principal, St John’s Grammar, Belair Steve Bousfield Principal, Westminster School

3. Hypothetical Grammar School has a proud tradition of educating students to reach their full potential through a challenging curriculum and a varied and rich co-curricular program. Our students come from many parts of Adelaide and our staff are highly skilled and committed to the personal journey of every student.

4.  Be sure about the agenda that the Board has set for you  Develop a close relationship with the Chair of the Board  Learn as much as possible about the new school identifying its niche in the marketplace, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.  Begin developing a collaborative leadership team by meeting individually with them preferably before the commencement of the school year.

5.  Be friendly and natural in all interactions and be conscious about first impressions, taking special care in preparing speeches.

7.  Relationships are the key – a leader on their own is not a leader. Nurture your early followers.  Understanding the culture you have inherited and the history of the school are critical and change has to be respectful of that culture and past.  Having effective ways to gather information from stakeholders is critical.  People will make assumptions and judgements based on their observations of what you do and don’t do and say. Take control of your diary.

8.  The Board chose you so be yourself. There is no one model.