‘Our commitment to each child as a precious individual means we think hard about what sort of future they may be stepping into. We think about the future of work, mental health, our democracy, and – in the face of AI – our humanity itself.

We then look at how we can best prepare them for this vertiginous, fast-changing future. We believe that a rigorous combination of critical thinking, teamwork, values, faith and citizenship, is what is required to help them thrive, today and into the future. We want these features to mesh seamlessly every day with our strong focuses on academic work, wellbeing and co-curricular activities.

And so, we have our ‘Wyvern’. A proud Newington College symbol of all we want each student to aspire to become. A Wyvern with an inspired mind that is curious, open-minded and rigourous. A Wyvern with a great heart filled with courage, kindness and integrity. And a Wyvern with strong wings to ‘soar’ in this exciting but uncertain future. This holistic approach to developing the whole student means they will still achieve their best in their final exams, but they are prepared for so, so much more.

This commitment to helping students develop inspired minds, great hearts and strong wings, powers our lessons, our sports, our arts, our co-curricular and our pastoral program. It is also a driving force behind our new Critical Thinking and Ethics Centre, our co-educational future and our new community service-based program for Year 9 students at our Eungai Creek campus.

If a ‘Great Heart, Inspired Mind and Strong Wings’ is also a vision you have for your daughter or son, we would love to hear from you.’

You can start by enrolling here.

Michael Parker
Headmaster

About the Headmaster

Michael holds a combined Arts/Law degree and a Masters of Education from the University of Sydney. Whilst at university, he worked in one of Australia’s leading law firms before pursuing his passion for education.  He taught English and served as a Housemaster at Cranbrook before travelling overseas to take up an exchange position at Eton College. 

In 2002 he joined Newington, where he was a highly successful Head of English and the subject of the SBS documentary ‘Inspiring Teachers’. He has a healthy level of Black and White running through his veins as a result of his time here.

After five years in that role, he was appointed Deputy Headmaster at Cranbrook, where he served for seven years before progressing to become Headmaster at Oxley College, Bowral, in 2014.  Under his leadership, Oxley’s academic performance and survey results across students, teachers and staff rose markedly.

Michael is the author of 10 books, most recently Talk With Your Kids: Conversations about Big Ideas and Talk With Your Kids:  Conversations about Ethics.His YA novel Doppelganger (Penguin) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award in 2007 and his children’s book You Are A Star (Walker Books) has been published in the US, UK, Brazil, China and Korea.

He is widely travelled, particularly in the Himalayas, with four major treks under his belt, including past Camp One at 20,000 feet on Mt Everest in Tibet. He is married to Fiona, an English literature academic at UNSW, and has two teenage daughters, Julia and Elena.

Michael is committed to open engagement with students and the school community at large.  He is a strong believer in creating a teaching environment that engenders critical thinking. His aim is to foster a culture that combines improved academic performance with enduring pastoral care programs to ensure our students are prepared for an unpredictable and constantly changing workplace.