Simon Gipson OAM has worked in education as a teacher, administrator and consultant in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He is a former Head of St Michaels Grammar Schoolhttps://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/former-principal-takes-up-ceo-role/249025 and is currently the CEO of The Song Room, Chairman of The Association of Coeducational Schools (ACS), Chair of the Trinity Grammar School Council; and sits on the board of the Association of Independent Schools Victoria (AISV). Gipson will take up the position of interim Headmaster at St Paul's School at Bald Hills in Brisbane from Term 4, 2023.https://www.themercury.com.au/news/queensland/consultant-to-step-in-as-interim-principal-of-st-pauls-school/news-story/78628ca1198ef043c84b7cb4aad7d562 Gipson was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) in 2020 for his work.

Professional career

Gipson taught English and Drama at several independent schools in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

before becoming Deputy Headmaster at

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, coeducational Primary school, primary and Secondary school, se ...

. In 1996, he was appointed Principal of Tridhos School Village, a project in Northern

designed to introduce educational reform and best practice teaching and learning in South East Asia. Gipson was appointed

Headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

of Melbourne

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, St Michael's Grammar School, in 2000. He succeeded previous Headmaster

Tony Hewison Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * ...

, who had been head there for 20 years. Gipson immediately started major reform at the school, and as a result has become well known due to this

avant garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

approach to education. Gipson has been a notable commentator on educational issue, including authoring several articles published in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', a leading Melbourne newspaper. In 2020, he became the Chair of School Council at

Trinity Grammar School, Kew Trinity Grammar School, Kew (abbreviated to TGS) is an Independent school, independent, Anglican Day school, day school for boys, located in Kew, Victoria, Kew in Melbourne, Australia. The school was founded at a meeting of the vestry of Holy T ...

Educational reform

Gipson has published and presented in various areas of educational reform and restructuring, in redefining teacher professionalism, and in the application of

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

in teaching and learning. In 2002, he was invited as an International Research Associate for the United Kingdom National College for School Leadership to investigate the leadership implications of the implementation of Information Technology in English schools.

Media appearances

''The Age'' Newspaper

Private, public schools hit out at PM's 'values' claim, ''The Age'', 2004-01-21

* ttp://www.theage.com.au/news/general/the-hard-sell/2005/09/21/1126982119129.html The Hard Sell, ''The Age'', 2005-09-21
Review may ban strap in schools, ''The Age'', 2004-09-04

* ttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/school-fear-over-salvo-crisis-centre/2005/09/22/1126982179116.html School Fears over Salvo Crisis Centre, ''The Age'', 2005-09-22
Schools call in class acts to give them the edge, ''The Age'', 2005-08-13

* ttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/18/1061059759147.html Technology can't replace school environmentbr>Fury as under-age girls used to sex up nightclub

ABC Broadcast

Other

Parliament of Victoria Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 2000-05-25 (Pg 1784 (28 of 102))

St Michael's Grammar School Adds New Meaning to the Virtual Classroom, Voice&Data.com.au, 2000-09-02

— Incorporated Association of Registered Teachers of Victoria (IARTV)

— Ed' Tech 98 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050617112204/http://aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/gipson1.html Planning technology for schools: A design methodology.— Ed' Tech 98
Situating learning with the help of the World Wide Web
— Teaching & Learning Forum 2001
Issues of ICT in Education
— National College for School Leadership

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gipson, Simon Australian headmasters Heads of schools in Thailand Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Guildford Grammar School Australian expatriates in Thailand