Who We Are
The CCTE is led by an expert critical thinking team of practitioners and thought purveyors.
Dr Britta Jensen
Director, Centre for Critical Thinking
Dr Britta Jensen is the Director of Newington College’s Centre for Critical Thinking and Ethics. An educator with experience teaching students K-12, Dr Jensen’s areas of academic expertise are Philosophy and Linguistics (DPhil, Oxon 2003).
After a visiting fellowship at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Dr Jensen undertook a post-doctoral research role at Macquarie University’s Centre for Cognitive Science to investigate first language acquisition & young children’s knowledge of language. She has decades of experience teaching philosophy and languages to primary, secondary, and tertiary learners, developing curricula, and teacher development through mentorship and professional learning.
Dr Jensen is a Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Association (FAPSA) Teacher Educator, President of the Philosophy in Schools Association of NSW since 2018 and has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Philosophy in Schools.
Under Dr Jensen’s leadership, Newington’s CCTE hosts Meeting of Minds, an annual event which brings Year 7 and Year 8 students from schools across NSW together for a day of critical thinking and collaborative inquiry. The CCTE has joined forces with the Philosophy in Schools Association of NSW to host the Sydney Philosothon, where teams of students from NSW Public, Religious and Independent schools, engage in a series of collaborative philosophical discussions known as Communities of Inquiry.
Dr Jensen is the lead author on a recent peer-reviewed paper, Newington College: Building Thinking Communities, which was published in 2024 in the Journal of Philosophy in Schools. For a condensed version, see Pre-College Philosophy in Sydney, Australia: A Whole School Approach.


Ms Kate Kennedy-White
Associate Director, Centre for Critical Thinking K-6
Ms Kennedy White is a primary specialist and FAPSA Teacher Educator. Her degrees are in Education, History, Politics & Ethics and she has earned certification from SAPERE, the UK’s National Charity for Philosophical Inquiry, the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IPAC) in the USA, and the Institute of Philosophy Practice in France.
In 2014, Ms Kennedy White was awarded the NSW Premier’s Early Childhood Scholarship to study P4C in early childhood (ages 3-6). She is also a lead author in Philosophical Inquiry with Children (2018), a contributor to the Edspresso and Fizzics podcasts series, and co-author of Building Thinking Communities, Journal of Philosophy in Schools (2024). As Associate Director of Newington’s CCTE, she teaches K-6 Philosophy at Newington College’s Wyvern House Prep campus in Stanmore and our Lindfield Preparatory School and teaches courses for Early Childhood professionals.
Mr Michael Parker
Headmaster
Mr Michael Parker began teaching Philosophy in 1994 and has done so most years since then. His Master of Education (1997) specialised in teaching Philosophy in Schools. He is the author of several books in this area including, The Quest for the Stone of Wisdom (1995), Talk with Your Kids About Big Ideas (2014) and Talk With Your Kids About Things That Matter (2021). As Headmaster at Newington College, he continues to teach Philosophy several times a week.


Ms Janine Timillero
Head of Professional Growth (7-12)
Ms Janine Timillero is the Head of Professional Growth (7-12) at Newington College. She teaches in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department and has a background in the Humanities. She holds a Master of Education, Certificate of Gifted Education and Graduate Certificate in Philosophy. Ms Timillero has worked in Gifted Education for many years and is President of the Gifted and Talented Secondary Teachers Association. She is also a FAPSA qualified Teacher Educator.
Ms Amy Van Arkkels
Deputy, Teaching and Learning (K-12)
Ms Amy Van Arkkels is the Deputy, Teaching and Learning (K-12) at Newington College. Her interests include the integration of critical thinking across the curriculum to ensure rigorous and engaging learning experiences for students of all ages. Amy is also a researcher, holding a Master of Research from Macquarie University. She is currently working towards her PhD, investigating the development of both teacher self-efficacy and resilience within beginning teachers.


Dr Michael Marokakis
Director of Teaching and Learning
Dr Michael Marokakis is the Director of Teaching and Learning, and former Head of English at Newington College. In 2020, he received his PhD from The University of Sydney for his research on Shakespearean adaptations and subsequently published his book Shakespearean Spaces in Australian Literary Adaptations for Children and Young Adults.
During completion of his BA Dip Ed (Hons) at Macquarie University, he was awarded the HW Piper Memorial Prize and the Elizabeth M Liggins Prize, both for excellence in the English Honours program. Dr Marokakis is a New South Wales Higher School Certificate Senior Marker for English Extension 2 and has presented at conferences, including the Child and the Book Conference 2022, the British Shakespeare Association Conference in 2016 and the AULLA Conference in 2013 and numerous English Teacher Association conferences. He was also a sessional lecturer at the University of Sydney in the Masters of Education English Curriculum course in 2018 and 2023.