School Council

School Tours | Academic Culture | Enrolments

Contact

Parents

Menu

Governance Structure

Macarthur Anglican School is governed by an independent School Council comprising ten members who volunteer their time and skills. The School Council is constituted in accordance with an ordinance of the Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, Sydney Diocese. The Macarthur Anglican School Ordinance (1982) provides the structure in which governance takes place.

Macarthur Anglican School is a truly independent school with no other overarching organisational structure and is not part of any system of schools.  The School is a member of the Association of Independent Schools NSW (AIS) and the Headmaster is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australian (AHISA) and the Heads of Independent Co-educational Schools (HICES).  While the ultimate owner of the School is the Sydney Anglican Diocese, the Macarthur Anglican School Council operates it in trust.  As such, the School does not fit within any bureaucratic framework and relates directly with the Diocesan organisation, governments; Local, State and Federal; and their relevant agencies.

The School Council is a policy setting and monitoring body and is not involved in the management of the School. The Headmaster is the School Council's Chief Executive Officer and is fully responsible for the day-to-day and strategic management of the School. The School Council therefore sets broad policy direction for the School and monitors its operations within the various legislative and regulatory frameworks.

The Archbishop of Sydney is the President of the School Council and may attend and Chair meetings from time to time. Ordinarily the School Council elects a Chair from its members to oversee the operation of the Council. The Council also elects an Honorary Secretary and has two standing committees; the Finance, Property and Marketing Committee and the Governance and Risk Committee.

Members of School Council are elected by the Synod for a three year term (six members in total, two elected each year), appointed by the Archbishop (two members, one an Anglican Clergy and one a lay member), or appointed by the School Council itself for a three year term (two members).

Members of the School Council

President of the School Council

The Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel
Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of Province NSW
*The Archbishop is President of the School Council and is entitled to attend any and all meetings of the School Council and the School Council’s various standing committees. When the President is in attendance he Chairs the meeting.

Chairman of School Council
The Reverend D Barrie
BSc, BD(Hons)
Elected by the Synod
A member of the School Council since 28 February 2017. Reverend Barrie worked as a Laser and Optics Engineer in the optical fibre industry before entering the Ministry. He was an Associate Minister prior to being appointed as the Rector of the local Parish. Reverend Barrie is a parent of the School. He also has considerable governance experience, serving on the executive of several not for profit organisations including a child care centre and scripture boards.

Honorary Secretary
Mrs C Rich 
Chair of the Governance and Risk Committee
Elected by the Synod
A member of the School Council since August 2009 and Chair of the Corporate Governance and Policy Monitoring Committee since February 2011.  Mrs Rich is the Deputy Registrar of the Diocese of Sydney responsible for the administration of the Parishes and staff across the Dioceses.

Members of Council
Mr S Bywater
Cert IV (Workplace Training and Ass), Dip.Mar, BMin
Appointed by the Council
A member of the School Council since 28 February 2017. Mr Bywater is a parent of the School who owns and operates a consultancy firm and people development business - specifically focussed on leadership and coaching as well as sales strategy development. Mr Bywater is also a regular keynote speaker in the fields of coaching and mentoring programs. Additionally, he consults, designs and deploys learning programs for organisations. These organisations include both large corporate and not for profit organisations. Mr Bywater is also an ordained Minister and Pastor at a Baptist Church in Moorebank.

 

Mrs E Tippett
CertIVFinServ, CertChangeMgmt, GradCertExecLeadership
Appointed by the Council 
A member of the School Council since 25 June 2024, Mrs Tippett is a parent of the School and a seasoned banking professional with 24 years of experience with the Westpac Group. Her career includes 17 years in the branch network and 7 years in Private Wealth, where she has been involved in operations and change integration teams. Her banking career has seen Mrs Tippett excel in people leadership roles, earning a reputation as a collaborative leader dedicated to business improvement and customer advocacy while adeptly managing risk.


Mr G Hoffman
DipAviation, JP
Elected by Synod
A member of the School Council since 22 June 2020. Mr Hoffman is a current parent of the School and is a commercial airline Captain. Employed by Qantas Airways, Mr Hoffman holds a flight instructor rating as a Type Rated Instructor and is responsible for training and checking pilots, pilot standards development, and assessing and developing the skills of Qantas pilots in technical and non-technical competencies. Mr Hoffman is a member of and has served on the board of Pilot Assistance Network (PAN) which provides confidential welfare support and peer counselling for airline personnel.


Mrs A Johnstone
LLB (Hons), Acc.Spec.(Business Law), B.SocSci
Elected by the Synod
A member of the School Council since 27 August 2019. Mrs Johnstone is a parent of the School and works as General Counsel in the retail industry. In the course of her career, Mrs Johnstone has worked in a wide variety of legal roles including as an academic in tertiary education teaching commercial law, for Government including in major projects and as a Partner in a local Macarthur based law firm. Mrs Johnstone holds tertiary qualifications in Law and Social Science.

Mr M Judge
BBus(Dist), MBA, FFin, MAICD
Elected by the Synod
A member of the School Council since 27 February 2018. Mr Judge retired in 2014 from the position of Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Banking Solutions at the Commonwealth Bank. Prior to that, Mr Judge held a range of general management roles at the bank. Mr Judge’s governance experience includes chair and other director roles in banking, educational and mission organisations. He also serves on the council of an inner city Anglican independent school, and as a founding panel member of a national governance accreditation program for Christian organisations.

 

The Reverend Scott Lovell
B.App.Sc. (Physiotherapy), B.Div. (Hons)
Elected by the Synod
A member of the School Council since 11 September 2023. Mr Lovell has been in full-time parish ministry since 2011 and Senior Minister at The Oaks Anglican Church since 2019. Prior to this, he worked as an allied health professional in hospitals and private practice around Sydney. He is a parent of the school who has served on several boards, including another independent school, where he also served as Chairman for some time and a preschool.

The Reverend C Moroney
BA, DipEd, ThL(Hons), DipA(Hons), BD(Hons), ThScol
Appointed by the Archbishop
A member of the School Council since 28 April 2015. Mr Moroney trained as a teacher prior to entering the Ministry and has been the Rector of several Parishes in Sydney. He also spent some time as the Senior Assistant Minister at St Andrew's Cathedral.

Ms A Watson OAM 
DipPhysio, CFRM, FFIA, MEdPlus, CFRE (1999-2016)
Appointed by the Archbishop
A member of the School Council since 1 March 2008. Ms Watson is the owner and Managing Director of a consultancy firm. The company provides consultancy services in the areas of fundraising, public relations, volunteer management and development of governing bodies. She has served as follows: Member of the Anglicare Council from 1990 to 2008; South Sydney Regional Council Member 1996 to present; Chairman of FIA NSW and a Member of the FIA National Board 2010-2014; St Catherine’s Anglican School Council 2006 – 2008; Synod Representative for St Mark’s Darling Point 1982 to present; Warden, Parish Councillor and Parish Nominator at St Mark’s over various times.

 

In attendance
Dr D P Nockles
Headmaster
BA, DipEd, MEd(Hons), EdD, MACE, MACEL, AFAIM, HFTGA, MAICD

A Message from Rev. David Barrie – Chairman of Council

In many ways 2023 has been the year when the world has emerged from the Covid fog and returned to full speed. The pandemic was at its most disruptive in 2020 and 2021. 

Then 2022 was like the hangover year. We were not in lockdown, but the aftereffects were still very much with us and slowing us down.  

Last year, I commended the staff for their tremendous job in re-establishing the school culture and strengthening student resilience for the return to normal life. 

That hard work set us up well for what was coming in 2023. 

When tragedy hit the School in February, the Macarthur community drew closer together. As we wept, grieved, prayed, and relied on one another for support, there was a powerful sense of unity and solidarity. At the time, I remember speaking to the school captain, Lorenzo, and he said, “I’ve never seen the school more open; anyone can talk to anyone at the moment”.

That kind of unity, that kind of supportive and safe environment, doesn’t happen by chance. It is the fruit of countless hours of planning, relationship building and hard work. 

Over the years, the Headmaster and his team have intentionally established and refined – programs, learning experiences, pastoral-care structures, extracurricular activities, camps, carnivals, hikes, mission trips, excursions, competitions, school traditions, and many other strategic initiatives. This has all been done with a deliberate focus on holistic student development and fostering a healthy school culture. Seeing all of these initiatives back in full flight this year has been wonderful. They contribute so much to the life of our school.

Let me just highlight a couple that stood out to me.

In April, the Agricultural Show Team, led by Mr Baker, achieved the School’s best results ever at the Royal Easter Show. The team won the Grand Champions prize for their exhibit as well as taking out the award for “Most Successful School in the Interbred Competition”. 

I was also struck by the quality of the school musical this year. The Pirates of Penzance was a challenging production and a fun one. It was performed with consummate skill and professionalism. Congratulations to the myriad of students and staff who were involved in pulling it together.

These are just two of the many rich and varied experiences we offer our students each year. And to be honest, it is hard to keep track of all the wonderful things happening in school life, even for those of us who consider ourselves well-informed.

Between my wife and I, we read every newsletter and every Facebook post that comes from the school (did you notice how carefully I worded that?). There’s no need to get into details about who reads the most… the point is that between us, we read it all! And yet, even as informed as “we” are, I am constantly surprised at the sheer variety and quality of opportunities that are on offer for students at Macarthur. They really are given every chance to flourish.

And so, on behalf of the parents, I would like to thank the staff of Macarthur for your hard work, for your creativity in planning out these memorable experiences and for your genuine care for our children. You consistently go above and beyond; as parents, we see that and appreciate it deeply.

I would also like to thank the members of the School Council for their hard work and diligence, for their wisdom and strategic thinking and especially this year, for their compassion and responsiveness to the needs of the school.

In particular, I’d like to acknowledge the substantial contributions of our sub-committee chairs, Mrs. Catherine Rich and Mr. Marcus Judge.

And I am delighted to welcome Rev. Scott Lovell, Minister at the Oaks Anglican Church, onto the team.  

Every member of the School Council gives generously of their time to ensure our school is governed well. Would you please join me in thanking them for their service?

The Reverend David Barrie
Chair of Council