About

Head of St Michael’s Grammar School
BA, GradDipEng, DipEd, MEdMgt, MACE, FAICD, FAIM, FACEL (Vic)

Simon enjoyed a school education across three continents: primary school in Trinidad and Barbados and secondary schooling in England and three Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia).

Simon completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and Graduate Diploma in English at the Western Australia Institute of Technology (now Curtin University), before spending time working in theatre, film and radio.

It was a serendipitous request in 1983 to assist in a school musical at Christ Church Grammar School in Perth that led to him taking on a role as English Teacher and Director of Drama with the school in 1984, while completing a Diploma of Education at Murdoch University.

In 1989, Simon became Head of English and Languages at All Saints’ College, during which time he completed a Master of Educational Management. In 1993, he was appointed Director of Studies at Perth College.

As a consequence of a series of international connections developed during doctoral research on the place of information technology in advancing teaching and learning, Simon was recruited as Director of School Design to a visionary educational program in Northern Thailand in 1996.

Tridhos School Village was designed to provide a model for learning in South-East Asia. Towards the end of 1996, Simon was appointed the School Principal. Unfortunately, however, the project was compromised by the 1997 economic crisis and Simon left the project.

In late 1997, Simon joined the Endeavour Group in the United States. During 1997 and 1998, he consulted widely in the areas of school reform, especially in terms of the uses of information technology in teaching and learning, in the United States, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia.

In 1998, Simon was recruited as Deputy Headmaster (Curriculum) at Guildford Grammar School, an independent boys’ school on the outskirts of Perth.

In 2000, Simon took up his present role as Head of St Michael’s Grammar School. In 2002, Simon was invited to be an International Research Associate at the National College of School Leadership in the United Kingdom. His particular area of research focused on the implementation of information technology in English schools.

In 2009, Simon was named the Hedley Beare Educator of the Year by the Australian Council for Educational Leaders. The following year he was invited as a Visiting Scholar to the National Institute of Education in Singapore to assist in baseline research on models for principal leadership for the Singaporean Ministry of Education.

In 2011, he was invited to present a keynote address at a prestigious conference for Chinese School Principals, School Change: China Experience and International Dialogue, at East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.

Simon is a Council Member and Treasurer of the Centre for Strategic Education and, until 2010, chaired the Centre’s Development and Research Group. He is also a Member of the Board of Management of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria and a Member of the Executive of the Victorian Branch of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia.

In December 2012, Simon Gipson became the first school principal in Australia to receive the Lynda Gratton Business Leader of the Year Award from the Australian Human Resources Institute.