Leadership

NBCS places a high mandate on vision and leadership

We seek to develop core leadership skills and principles in our staff and students, upholding our values of Gratitude, Respect, Courage and Compassion. As we look to the future, our leaders are guided by our strategy and united in their commitment to our Mission and Vision.

NBCS Leadership

Our Principal

Tim Watson

Tim Watson

Principal

Tim Watson has 28 years of experience as an educator and leader in education. He has a rich understanding of the challenges that face students today and is excited about working with staff and students in developing the character and capacity necessary for students to lead fulfilling lives: lives in which they make key contributions to their community and to society.

His previous roles at Crusaders, SCECGS Redlands, Abbotsleigh and Roseville College have seen him deeply involved in the organisational, strategic, staff development, learning, cultural and wellbeing aspects of school life. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Ancient History and Law, a Master of International Relations with a focus on International Systems and the Middle East and a Master of Educational Leadership focusing on Organisational Change. He is a member of the Australian College of Educators, the Australian Council of Educational Leaders and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

An historian, he has taught senior classes throughout his time in leadership positions. In the past two decades he has been an HSC marker, senior marker and judge in Modern History. He is a strong proponent of ‘a culture of us’ – through which students, staff and families share values and work together to achieve the common goal of providing students with a rich education for life. Tim sees teaching ‘as a craft, a mixture of art and science, deeply human, and above all, relational.’

Senior Leadership Team

Our Principal is supported by the Senior Leadership Team, who together translate our vision and mission into the overarching strategy and daily functioning of the school.

The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) includes key leaders of curriculum, learning, student welfare, pastoral care, and professional development. All share the desire to see our students achieve at their greatest potential.
Santino Dimarco

Business Manager

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Educated at Macquarie University and a Chartered Accountant since 1991, Santino Dimarco joined NBCS as Business Manager in October 2021. With over three decades in finance and operations, and serving on not-for-profit boards including Northcross Christian School, The Crusader Union, and Arden Anglican School, Santino brings a rich expertise to leading the financial stewardship and sustainability of the school.

Early in his career, Santino worked in both large and small accounting and consultancy firms, as well as in the banking and finance sector (including Touche Ross, Deloitte and Commonwealth Bank), before commencing his own practice in 2001. Selling his business in 2010 gave him the opportunity to serve in ministry at St Andrew’s Anglican Church Roseville in finance, operations, and a music leadership role (he plays keys and drums), until 2021.

Married to Meredith and with three adult children, Santino’s professional and personal life is shaped by his Christian faith. He draws particular encouragement from his favourite bible verse, Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Craig Linfoot

Deputy Principal

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Craig is an experienced teacher of 25 years. Craig joined the NBCS team in 2000, and has been Deputy Principal since 2003. In this role he has carried the vision of NBCS through leading the day-to-day operation of the school and ensuring that the DNA of leadership is embedded within the entire school community. A significant part of Craig’s role has been responsibility for the implementation and development of technology within the school. He gives expression to vision through oversight of projects such as the Personal Digital Devices Program (PDD) and the online learning resources.
Jenny Phillips

Head of Secondary

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As Head of Secondary, Jenny provides community leadership over the learning and pastoral care for all students in Years 7-12. She is an experienced educator, passionate about young people and releasing their potential.
Jenny has been part of the NBCS community since 1988. During that time she has held integral roles, including working with the Education Support team, Head of Middle Years, and her current role as Head of Secondary.

This responsibility sees innovative educational practice continue to build, with a vision to provide every student with excellence in their experience of education and to set them up for achieving their personal best in preparation for life after school.

Julie Smith

Head of Primary

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We welcome Mrs Julie Smith into the role of Head of Primary. She is looking forward to building a culture of excellence in teaching and learning that stands alongside our strong focus on wellbeing. It is her aim that students of NBCS will have every opportunity to develop their academic, physical, social, emotional and spiritual potential. Julie believes in NBCS as a Christian educational community where students can belong and flourish.

Julie most recently led the Learning Enhancement team at St Luke’s Grammar School in learning support and gifted and talented programs. Her strength lies in her capacity to inspire students to be resourceful and resilient learners. She has spent her career working with staff to enhance quality teaching practices which in turn support growth and improvement for all students.

She is a lifelong learner on the cusp of completing her Master of Educational Leadership at UNSW. Julie is thrilled to be the new Head of Primary and is looking forward to bringing her strengths to the culture of learning as she works alongside the Primary team.

Tim Harding

Assistant Principal - Curriculum

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Tim joined NBCS in 2005 as a Science/Geography teacher, following completion of a Bachelor of Science (Environmental) degree and Graduate Diploma in Education. He also completed a Masters of Educational Leadership through Macquarie University. Taking leave from NBCS in 2008-09 to live and work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tim brings a passion for both ‘Excellence in Education’ and ‘Christianity in Action’ to his leadership and teaching.

Drew Dickson

Assistant Principal - Wellbeing

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Drew leads the Wellbeing Team and is focused on helping promote positive culture at NBCS. This involves providing support for students as they navigate life and positively face challenges that may arise. Drew works alongside staff helping them to implement best practice strategies in supporting students to be focused and engaged as they learn.

Drew has been at NBCS for many years teaching and leading PDHPE and Sport. Drew is also trained as a Child Protection Investigation Officer.

Mick Norsa

Assistant Principal - Welfare

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Mick oversees the case management and resolution of issues relating to Child Protection, Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Bullying/Harassment.

Mick has many years’ experience and is skilled in conflict resolution, mediation and case management of student issues in Secondary.

Mick is a registered Child Protection Investigator with the Association of Independent Schools. He is responsible for ensuring that issues concerning the wellbeing of students are managed appropriately and that all investigations are conducted with procedural fairness and natural justice.

Mick has a Masters Degree in Education.

Lisa Knight

Director of HR

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Lisa is a Human Resources and Learning and Development professional. Lisa has a passion for supporting NBCS’ mission by facilitating effective business processes and supporting its people.

In her role at NBCS, Lisa combines her business background in corporate, small business and consultancy, along with Education, to support NBCS operations, strategy and Human Resource requirements.

Leveraging her HR background, Lisa supports the Executive team with employee recruitment, engagement and other HR matters.

Jann Ramage

Director of Teacher Quality

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As the Director of Teacher Quality, Jann directly contributes to the strategic goal of teacher excellence by leading, managing, supervising and supporting the process of Teacher Accreditation and targeting of high quality Pre-Service teachers. She is one of the key decision makers in the exercise of school policy and procedures relating to compliance and accreditation of NBCS Teaching staff.

Jann’s role is to provide professional accountability and ensure that our teachers have appropriate levels of professional knowledge, practice and professional engagement that will improve the outcomes for our students.

Damien Whitington

Senior Chaplain

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Damien first arrived at NBCS in 2004 where he taught PDHPE, Mathematics, History and served as Community Leader. In 2010 he felt God’s call to study theology and spent the next three years completing a Master of Divinity at SMBC. It was here Damien thought deeply about the Bible, worldviews, and cross cultural communication. The past seven years saw him serve as the Middle School Chaplain, and later the Secondary School Chaplain, at Barker College. He has also been a keynote speaker at various camps and conferences, including KYCK and Crusaders.

Damien is passionate about Jesus and enjoys walking alongside students, staff and parents on their faith journey. He is responsible for the oversight of Chapel, Christian Studies, and voluntary groups where students can go deeper in the Christian faith. He often says we will teach students ‘how’ to think, not ‘what’ to think. Damien is excited to return to NBCS to help students find meaning, articulate their beliefs, and see people become the best version of themselves under God.

Our Board

As a not-for-profit company, the NBCS’ Board adopts a corporate governance model that provides strategic direction, mentorship and accountability.

Our Board is a highly collaborative team, bringing together a wealth of professional backgrounds, including education, finance, business and government. This diversity of experience and expertise, enriches and supports our strategic planning and goal setting processes, helping us stay true to our Mission and Vision. The Board plays an invaluable role of keeping us accountable to our educational purpose and financial management of the school.
Professor Dr Rosemary Johnston AM

Chair, Board member since 2004

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Rosemary is Professor of Education and Culture at UTS. She is the Founding Director of the International Research Centre for Youth Futures, an interdisciplinary centre concerned with the multiple influences on the futures of children and young people. Rosemary is a Chief Investigator on three ARC Linkage Grants and one of three international CIs on a UK Leverhulme Grant investigating Children and War 1890-1919. Her recent publications include Australian Literature for Young People (2017) and Children’s Literature and Culture of the First World War (2015). Rosemary leads several major projects that are philanthropically funded and are part of the Centre’s commitment to youth futures. Rosemary’s research interests include Australian literature and children’s literature; multimodal literacy education and learning; story and technology; poetics and theory of children’s literature; indigenous education; school education; children’s drama and culture; transdisciplinarity.
Eric Bernard

Board member since 2018

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B.Ed., Dip.Teach.(Mathematics), Grad.Dip.Ed.Studs, M.Ed.

Eric has spent over 30 years in senior leadership roles in leading independent schools in Sydney and as Head of The Scots School, Bathurst. He has also held senior management roles in private enterprise ventures in the property sector. As an experienced school leader Eric’s role on the Board of NBCS is to draw on his experience in education and business. He wants to share his passion for education with a desire to see students achieve their potential, learn to think critically, to live intentionally, and to be the best they can be. He believes all children have extraordinary God-given potential and the NBCS environment provides the opportunity for students to realise their potential and to respond to God’s call on their lives. Eric believes NBCS is well positioned to build on its excellent reputation for responsive, personalised and cutting-edge educational practices and to achieve outstanding character development and academic outcomes for all students.

Lesley Harbon

Board Member since 2020

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Lesley has been involved in languages education in Australian schools and universities since the early 1970s. During the 1990s she was sessional Lecturer in Indonesian at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst. Lesley then moved to be Lecturer in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Education at the University of Tasmania, where she completed her PhD in 2001. After Lesley’s move to the University of Sydney in 2002 she became further involved in internationalisation of higher education, first as the Director of Study Abroad, Exchange and Short Term International Experiences in the Faculty of Education and Social Work from 2006, then as Associate Dean International from 2009 to 2014. Between 2007-2010, Lesley was President of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations (AFMLTA), the national peak body for language teachers in Australia.

Between 2012 and 2014, Lesley was the Community Outreach Advisor for the Executive Committee of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, at the University of Sydney. Between 2010 and 2014, Lesley has been joint coordinator of DEPISA: Developing Educational Professionals in Southeast Asia, a bi-annual meeting of educational professionals from Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea, and Australia.

She has sole-authored and joint-authored/edited numerous book publications, book chapters and refereed journal articles since 1990. She has reviewed papers for a number of national and international languages education journals.

Lesley has supervised numerous doctoral, masters and honours projects to completion. She has consulted on languages education to schooling systems and government agencies, and has designed and taught many language teacher professional development workshops and programs.

Andrew Simpkin

Board member since 2022

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Watch this space!

Kerryn Baird

Board member since 2022

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Watch this space!

Kerry Gadsby

Board member since 2022

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Watch this space!

Rev Keith Garner

Board member since 2022

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Watch this space!

Student Leadership

Our students have many opportunities to develop their character and leadership skills. We seek to equip and nurture our students with the skills to take on leadership roles, instilling in them a sense of confidence, ownership and responsibility. Ultimately, we want to prepare them for further leadership opportunities beyond school, so they can continue making a difference in their community.

There are many ways that our students can contribute to the life of the school as a leader.

Both Primary and Secondary have leadership teams that comprise various leadership roles. In Primary we have School Captains, Vice Captains, Student Leaders and Year 6 Buddies.

Similarly, in Secondary, we appoint School Captains, Vice Captains, Community Prefects, and Student Leaders in Chaplaincy and Social Justice, Academic, Performing Arts, Sport and Co-Curricular.

Our Student Leaders are a vital part of building a strong, connected community and a school that we can all be proud of.

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