South Australia Branch

Martyn Anderson

ACEL SA Branch President

Martyn is currently in the Director of Teaching and Learning at Immanuel College. He has held a variety of leadership positions at the College including Faculty leadership and the Senior Years Learning Leader. In 2020, he was named the national winner of the ACEL Keith Tronc Award for “Outstanding Teacher Leadership” as well as the ACEL (SA) Pip Field “Emerging Leader of the Year”. In 2022, he was named the ACEL (SA) Teacher of the Year. He has presented locally and nationally at conferences on utilising technology, cultures of thinking and engaging with data to improve student outcomes. He has a particular interest in the work that has emerged out of Harvard Project Zero and aims to develop cultures for both staff and students where thinking and innovation are valued and actively promoted. Martyn is excited about the prospect of becoming the President of the ACEL SA branch.

Christine Haynes

Branch Executive Member

Dr Christine Haynes is an accomplished educational leader, currently serving as the Senior Strategy Manager, SA Curriculum at the Department for Education. With a diverse background spanning teaching, school leadership, policy, management consulting, and IT roles, Christine is dedicated to driving strategic change and innovation in education. Her influential doctoral research on building school capacity for learning in a digital age was published in the Journal for Research in Technology Education and nominated for a best paper award from the American Council for Educational Research, leading to her ACEL New Voice in Educational Research selection. An award-winning leader, she has also earned accolades from, EdTechSA and the Australian Council for Computers in Education, among others. Concurrently, she has contributed to the education field by teaching graduate students online, serving on dissertation committees, publishing in and editing academic journals, demonstrating a commitment to academic and professional growth.

Michael Murphy

Branch Executive Member

Michael is a father, a friend, a learner, and a leader, who lives, learns, and works on Kaurna Land, in South Australia. His purpose in education is to inspire, motivate and support people to live well in a world worth living in. His work has been exhibited at international conferences, as well as published in Australian Journals. Michael is known for his commitment to developing collective staff emotional intelligence. Staff he works with appreciate truly distributed leadership models, engaging faculty projects and rewarding working environment. He is an award winning leader, with a 2023 Excellence Award for Department Head of the Year at the Australian Education Awards, and Pip Field Emerging Leader award from ACEL. In 2022 Michael was a recipient of the ACEL New Voice Scholarship, highlighting his ability to lead beyond his school-based role, also contributing to published research, mentorship of aspiring leaders, and through his role as an initial teacher educator at the University of Adelaide.

Alina Page

Branch Executive Member

Alina Page is an experienced leader who has held teaching and leadership positions both in Australia and internationally. Currently the principal at Para Hills High School in South Australia, Alina is passionate about enabling growth for staff and students alike, ensuring that students are engaged through high quality pedagogical practices that inspire. She sees learning as a lifelong process and staff development and growth as a lever to improve outcomes for all. Known for her ability to leverage data to inform strategy, Alina has consistently created environments where her staff and students are challenged, nurtured and encouraged to be their best. Her current school is the recipient of multiple awards, and Alina is proud to have been awarded the ACEL SA Educational Leadership Medal in 2023.

Grant Small

Branch Executive Member

Grant has had an exemplary career in Education that has spanned over 4 decades. Now in his 8th year as Principal of Grange Primary School, Grant’s had significant, positive impact on school culture and achievement. His vision for world class encompasses staff and students alike and is being actively realised. Seeing all staff as leaders and all students—whose voices are sought to continuously improve teaching and learning—as active contributors to their own education, Grant has a strong ability to build capacity to generate results. Under Grant’s mentorship, 10 of his middle level leaders have gone on to be principals.

Grant achieved significant data-verified success at Grange Primary School through reconfiguring the leadership structure. He transitioned the structure from management to instructional leadership. Grant also prioritised strengthening curriculum coaches in Mathematics and English to focus on improving student engagement and achievement. This success is shared across the portfolio and across the state as Grant actively shares his own learning and encourages teachers and leaders to visit Grange to observe teachers and share practice. This includes developing a sister school relationship with primary schools in Singapore in Mathematics. Grant has led the school in using technology and this year the school capital works program will focus on building an Innovation Centre which will include a lumination lab – the first in any stand-alone primary school.

Julie Tarzia

Branch Executive Member

Julie has had an extensive career in education, including teaching, executive leadership, and consultancy roles across all sectors both in South Australia and internationally. Currently, a Senior Educational Consultant with the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia, Julie works with school leaders and teachers in a range of areas including strategic planning, educational leadership, teacher, curriculum and learning excellence and implementation of innovative and impactful practice. She also leads a range of sector projects and holds representative and convening roles related specifically to middle and senior secondary years.

Previous roles have included the inaugural Director of Teaching, Learning and Innovation in a large multi campus R-12 Catholic school as well as number of diverse consultancy and committee roles on both state and national forums. She holds a Masters of Instructional Leadership from the University of Melbourne, is an AITSL Certified Assessor and is passionate about the power of education to foster equity, innovation, and to impact positively on the lives of young people.

Brendan Toohey

Branch Executive Member

Brendan Toohey has held school leadership roles for over twenty years in various states and internationally in Government, Independent and Catholic systems. He is currently Learning Area Leader - Humanities at Mercedes College and is a candidate for AITSL Lead Teacher. Brendan has presented at state, national and international conferences, including as part of a panel on co-teaching internationally stemming from his collaboration with Zhong Zheng Senior High School, Taiwan in Global Politics and Business Management classes. Brendan facilitates the ACEL SA Book Club which meets each school holidays to discuss a book and issues around education and leadership.

Georgina West

Branch Executive Member

With extensive experience in education, Georgina is currently the Head of Senior School at Walford Anglican School for Girls. In a career spanning a diverse range of sport, teaching and leadership roles, Georgina believes that schools are uniquely positioned to cultivate student agency, promoting the development of young people as individuals who know how to learn, possess awareness of their strengths, can relate positively with others and who can mobilise their knowledge, skills, values and experiences to succeed and serve causes greater than their own.

At Walford, Georgina leads the Futures Curriculum Working Party which consists of an interdisciplinary team of teachers who draw upon a blend of futures thinking, robust evidence and practical experimentation in learning contexts to position students as principled agents of their own futures. As the Co-Chair of the Reconciliation Action Plan Committee, Georgina also leads a team consisting of teachers and students across the School to foster an inclusive, welcoming, culturally responsive community that honours Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through deep listening, meaningful engagement and authentic collaboration.