Scott Dirix – Indie School Elizabeth
Department Head of the Year – Excellence Award
Scott Dirix is the multi-award-winning head of school at Indie School Elizabeth, which offers an innovative alternative learning program in Adelaide’s northern suburbs that caters for disengaged and at-risk young people. Previously, he was the founder and senior leader of alternative programs at Salisbury East High School. Dirix leads an innovative multidisciplinary team in enacting an educational vision underpinned by principles of collaboration, wellbeing, staff and student agency, curriculum innovation, inclusion and community partnership.
He has received awards at both state and national level, winning both the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award and the Schools Plus Fellowship in 2020. He was the winner of the 2017 Department of Education Innovation in Practice award in SA, and was named Adolescent Success Middle Years Leader of the Year in 2019. Dirix was also an ACEL New Voice Scholarship recipient in 2019.