Posted on June 09, 2022
The Chairman of the Oxley College Board of Governors, Dr Stephen Barnett, announced today that Mr Scott Bedingfield has been appointed as the new Head of College.
Earlier this year the Board formed a selection committee and conducted an extensive national search, assisted by a specialist executive recruitment firm. At the beginning of this search process, the Board engaged with current Oxley staff who had the opportunity to give detailed feedback on the key strengths of Oxley, where the College should be focusing effort, and what sort of leader would be required to continue to drive change.
The strong themes voiced by the staff were the importance of community at Oxley and its special warmth, fitting with the College’s statement of care for the whole child; the importance of an inspiring, high-quality educator to lead and inform best teaching practice with staff, and to continue to build on the College’s enlightened academic rigour; and the importance of the College’s students to be supported to find their voice amongst a wide range of co-curricular activities.
As a selection committee, the Board were therefore very excited to come across a warm and engaging candidate who meets all these requirements. Mr Bedingfield is a highly experienced educator who has worked in a range of senior school leadership positions, most recently as the Deputy Head at St Luke’s Grammar in Sydney. St Luke’s is an independent Pre-K to Year 12 co-educational day school of over 1300 students and has a wonderful academic and pastoral record.
Mr Bedingfield has a Bachelor of Education (Hons), Master of Leadership and Management in Education and Diploma of Outdoor Recreation. As a passionate mathematics teacher Mr Bedingfield will continue a part-time teaching load. He describes this as a ‘touchstone’ of his leadership – engaging with students, teaching and learning and using the teaching of a class as an opportunity to inspire and work alongside teaching staff.
Finally, Mr Bedingfield is a keen supporter of co-curricular activities and is keen to see Arts, Music and a wide range of sports and outdoor activities thrive at Oxley. Over the years Mr Bedingfield has coached a range of sporting teams, been highly involved in school snow sports and has co-ordinated the Duke of Edinburgh’s International programme.
He will be joined by his wife Karinne and two young daughters Lucy and Cora. Both daughters will be joining the Oxley College Junior School.
Mr Bedingfield will start in early January 2023. He will be visiting the school in Term 4 2022 to be involved in budgeting and staffing matters for 2023.
