Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School
Role: Operations Manager
Senior Library ceiling/lighting detail drawing student attention to the ‘new resources’ area
In 2012 the Senior Library was transformed into an updated learning hub for the high school
Class 2 building at the Junior campus was designed to have a low carbon footprint and make maximum use of green technologies (Architect: Baxter Jacobson Architects)
This Admin building at the Junior campus was part of the BER program (Architect: Baxter Jacobson Architects)
In 2009 I was invited to apply for the newly created role of Operations Manager at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School. Glenaeon is an independant, coeducational school for children from Preschool to Year 12 with a curriculum, based on the pedagogy of Austrian-born philosopher, scientist, artist and educator Rudolf Steiner. The school’s goal is to develop the physical, emotional and intellectual capabilities of the developing child through an age-appropriate curriculum that integrates the disciplines of movement, fine arts, and practical arts into the study of humanities, science, mathematics and technology.The school has a total population of approximately 450 students and 80+ teachers across 3 campuses in Sydney.
I came to this role with no previous school administration or management experience but as I was serving on the school board the school councillors and senior teachers had some sense of my organisational and project management skills.
The school was going through a period of intense growth and change and there were many challenges to meet including a need to update facilities across all three campuses and introduce new student management and compliance systems. In addition the school was keen to make use of the federal government’s ‘Building Education Revolution’ or BER program which offered a range of grants for capital works. We successfully applied for the maximum allowable grant funds which transformed the Junior school campus adding a hall, classrooms and an administration building.
Overall facilities management and the project management part of the role were quite straightforward given a built environment background. Child protection, events management and school administration were however completely new and rapid upskilling was needed through, learning from peer to peer learning, application of existing skills and undertaking formal training as needed. Responsibilities at Glenaeon involved oversight of all school operations including:
Management of administration including student records, maintenance and grounds staff, school calendar and events, liaison with government bodies and management of school transport and logistics.
Management of buildings and grounds across 3 sites including capital works, co‐ordination of building programs, repairs and maintenance and venue management.
Co-ordination of communication with the school community and external bodies including development of policies/procedures and handbooks, management of school intranet and issues register.
Safety and security including management of school security, WHS, oversight of child protection obligations and duties as the accredited child protection investigator in the event of any complaint or incident.