The nation’s peak body for private school principals has announced the appointment of a new national chair.
The Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA) welcomed St Andrew’s Anglican College principal Rev. Chris Ivey at its 2019 Biennial Conference, held in Perth earlier this month.
AHISA is a professional association of 440 private school principals. Its members collectively account for 11.5% of total Australian school enrolments and 20% of Year 12 enrolments.
The Rev. Ivey takes over from Yarra Valley Grammar School principal, Dr Mark Merry, who has held the Association’s chairmanship since October 2017.
Prior to his appointment as chair, The Rev. Ivey, was the Association’s national treasurer (since 2016) and has also contributed more broadly to the development of educational leadership in Australia as a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL), and as a member of the Australian College of Educators (ACE).
In his address to AHISA’s Biennial Conference, the Rev. Ivey highlighted the strength of diversity in Australia’s independent school sector, the value of diversity in AHISA’s membership and the power of schools to respond to the needs of their communities.
“A priority for AHISA over the 2019-21 biennium will be to continue to protect and preserve the autonomy that is a prerequisite to lead our schools,” The Rev. Ivey said.
“It is our autonomy that enables us to respond to the unique contexts of our schools, and give timely release to the immense innovative capacity of our schools.”