About Us

About Us

Principal's Welcome

Principal's Welcome

Welcome to the Inaburra community.

Since its beginning in the early 1980s, Inaburra School has built a strong reputation as a school of first choice in the Sutherland Shire and the surrounding areas. Inaburra continues to be a community in which every individual is known and loved – a place where every student is valued as a person made in the image of God. It is, first and foremost, a learning community in which staff and students learn with, and from, one another in a Christian environment. While we seek to encourage all students to grow in their understanding, we recognise that students will need more than just knowledge and understanding to flourish today and into the future. They will need to become competent and confident learners, ready to learn, perhaps even unlearn and relearn, how best to engage in different activities throughout their lives.

Education at Inaburra, however, is not about ensuring that our graduates, as a result of developing their capacity to learn, are empowered to accumulate more resources over the course of their lifetimes. Our desire for our students rather is that they might become people of generosity rather than accumulation, humility over arrogance and compassion opposed to self-importance. We seek to encourage our students to be generous in the classroom, humble enough to admit when they don’t understand something and compassionately supporting their classmates who are struggling with a particular concept or idea. As a Christian school, our focus is on the development of character. Staff and students alike are encouraged to become people who are gracious, compassionate and self-controlled learners, ready, willing and able to be a blessing to those around them now and into the future.

You are very welcome to come and experience for yourself the life and ethos of Inaburra School.

Dr James Pietsch became Principal of Inaburra School at the start of 2018. Prior to commencing at Inaburra, Dr Pietsch was the Dean of Professional Development and Learning at St Luke’s Grammar School in Dee Why where he had previously been Head of Mathematics. He has also held positions as the Dean of Residents at New College at the University of NSW, and as a lecturer and tutor in educational psychology at the University of Sydney. He holds a doctorate in educational psychology and brings a wealth of experience in education and leadership to his role as Principal.

Our Values

Our Values

Inaburra exists to be a Christ-centred learning community pursuing excellence in education with every individual known and loved. Based on this mission our values are as follows:

  • We commend and cultivate FAITH in God, who makes himself known to us in and through His Son, Jesus Christ.
  • We pursue KNOWLEDGE, delighting in the gift of learning to live well in God’s world.
  • We commit to LOVE, because Christ first loved us.
  • We strive for EXCELLENCE in thankful response for all that God has provided.
  • We treasure each INDIVIDUAL, recognising and respecting the image of God in every person.
  • We cherish COMMUNITY, knowing that relationships are at the heart of living and learning.

 

Our Story

In the late 1970s, after surveying their local community, Sutherland Baptist Church saw a need to establish a Christian school in the local area. On 10 August 1980, the church accepted the recommendation of an education sub-committee that a high school should be established in the Menai district. Thus, in pursuit of a dream, they sold their church property in Sutherland and crossed the Woronora River to establish Inaburra School and a new church now known as Menai Baptist Church.

Facing significant financial risk and overcoming many obstacles, a portable building was erected on the corner of Billa Road and Bangaroo Street for the use of the preschool and church in 1980.

Inaburra High School opened in 1982 in temporary accommodation at Gymea Baptist Church. The School comprised of 60 Year 7 students and 24 Year 8 students. Stage One of the Inaburra Complex was still being built and it wasn’t until Term 2 of that year that the School moved to the present site. On Monday, 24 May 1982 at 8:30am the staff and students of Inaburra High School began their first day in their newly built facility on the Billa Road site.

Over three decades later, the dream of the founders has now been realised and continues to be realised with over 1000 students.

Our Story
40th Anniversary

40th Anniversary

We are thrilled to be celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. Whether you have been part of the Inaburra community for a long time, or are new to us, we’d love for you to understand what our school community is all about. Click here to see how we’ve celebrated.

Our Future

2022-2025 Strategic Directions

Since it was founded in 1982, Inaburra has built a strong reputation as a school of first choice in the Sutherland Shire and surrounding suburbs. Historically, the school’s strengths have been in Christian education, pastorally-caring relationships, creative and performing arts, and future-oriented innovation. In recent years these strengths have been broadened to include the quality of our facilities, the professionalism of our operations, the use of ICT for student learning and the holistic nature of our education. Inaburra is increasingly becoming an exemplar school in the independent sector in NSW.

Our Future
Our Goals

As we look ahead to the next three years, Inaburra will be focusing on building three aspects of our school community. We will seek to be:

  1. A kingdom-of-God shaped community – in which students, parents and staff are encouraged to put on the virtues of grace, humility, kindness and compassion.
  2. An academic community – in which students engage regularly in rigorous and challenging learning activities designed to build learning character and understanding.
  3. A flourishing community – in which students and staff are supported so they might flourish as lifelong learners.

How we go about achieving these goals is outlined in the Strategic Directions 2022-2025 publication.

Governance

Inaburra School is operated by Inaburra School Limited ABN 51617812558 (ISL). ISL is a company limited by guarantee and is the legal entity responsible for the conduct and operations of the School. Inaburra Communications Limited ABN 78001998876 (ICL) is the sole member of Inaburra School Limited.

All affiliated activities including: Inaburra School Canteen; Inaburra School Uniform Shop; Inaburra School Parents & Friend’s Association and Inaburra School Foundation are operated under ISL.

The Principal and all staff are employed by ISL. The Principal attends ISL Board meetings by invitation. The School’s Administrator acts as Company Secretary.

ISL may form committees, either standing or occasional, with particular briefs for oversight of aspects of the School’s operation. These committees may be chaired by a Director of the company and will include the Principal. These committees may include other Directors, staff or members of the community as deemed appropriate and necessary. These committees are advisory bodies that report to ISL.

The Principal is appointed by ISL. The Principal has general authority to conduct the operations of the School on a day-to-day basis. The Principal is effectively the Chief Executive Officer of the School. One of the Principal’s primary functions is to ensure that the NSW Education Standards Authorities (NESA) requirements are met for School registration/accreditation.

ISL Board of Directors

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Robert Dougall (Chairman)

BCom, ACA (ICAEW), CA, FCPA, FFTP, MAICD

Robert has over 20 years of experience in the Mining Industry most recently as the CFO of Centennial Coal Company Limited. Prior to entering the mining sector, he practised as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers). He has held a number of Non-Executive Director roles chairing both Finance and Audit & Risk Sub-Committees. Robert is married with two children and has been an active member of Menai Baptist Church since he and his family moved to Menai in 2000.

 

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Jeremy Baillie

BBus

Jeremy has worked extensively in the aviation industry for the past 24 years. He has worked in a diverse range of areas including Engineering, Commercial Management and in Operations. Jeremy is currently the Manager of the Integrated Operations Centre for Qantas Airways. Jeremy is also the Chairman of the Leadership Council at Menai Baptist Church where he has attended with his wife and three children since 1996.

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David Crawford

MAppLaw, DipLaw

After working in Government, David worked as a solicitor for the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions before practising in private practice in Bathurst subsequently moving to the Sutherland Shire in 1995.  He is the Principal of Crawford Ryan Lawyers based at Miranda. He is a Law Society Accredited Specialist in his area of law.  He is also a nationally accredited Mediator and Arbitrator. David is married, a former parent of Inaburra School students and has attended Menai Baptist Church since 1996.

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Phillipa Hermann

MAppLing, BAppSci (Speech Pathology), ASDA, SPA

Phillipa has worked in her field of Speech Pathology for more than 30 years, initially within a Community Health setting and, since 1990, in her own private practice in the local area. She has been Chairperson of the Inaburra Preschool Board since 2006 and is a member of Menai Baptist Church, where she has been attending since 1985. Phillipa is married with three children and four grandchildren.

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Steven Russell

BCom, GDipAppFin

Steven has over 25 years’ experience in the banking industry working with both domestic and international financial institutions. He has a broad experience in corporate and institutional banking in relationship management, lending and risk management. Steven is currently focusing on the area of Conduct Risk with a major Australian bank. He married with two children and has attended Menai Baptist Church since 2001.

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David Sadler

MA, BSc, DipEd

David taught High School Mathematics for 36 years at Sydney Grammar School. He was Head of Department for seven years. He has had teaching roles at UNSW and is the author of several senior Mathematics textbooks. David currently works part-time as a consultant and lecturer at three coaching colleges.

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Alison Wolf

BCom, CA

Alison has 15 year’s experience working as a chartered accountant for BDO. She spent nine years in audit working with clients in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Alison now works for BDO International’s Financial Reporting Advisory group. Alison is a former student of Inaburra School, attends Menai Baptist Church and is married with two children.

Academic Results

Congratulations to the Inaburra School HSC Class of 2021.

January 2022

Today we celebrate the completion of thirteen years of formal schooling for the Inaburra Class of 2021 with the release of the HSC and ATAR marks. Whatever the individual result, there’s no denying the resilience of this cohort who have spent approximately one-quarter of the last two years of school time in remote learning and we recognise and acknowledge the achievements of them all.

Despite the range of challenges they faced there were some excellent results achieved by this cohort.

Subjects that achieved above-state averages:

The following subjects recorded averages that exceeded the State average by more than 10%: Food Technology and Industrial Technology – Multimedia.

The following subjects all recorded averages that exceeded the State average by more than 5%: Dance, Design & Technology, Drama, Engineering Studies, Mathematics Extension 2, Music 1, PDHPE, Textiles and Design.

The following subjects had 100% of students achieve a Band 6 or Band 5 result:
Dance, Design & Technology, English Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Music 1, Music 2, Music Extension 1, Science Extension, Textiles & Design.

Other notable aspects of the HSC results for 2021 include:

  • A total of 74 Distinguished Achiever results were listed on the 2021 HSC Honour Roll where students had achieved a mark of 90 or above (Band 6) in specific subjects.
  • A total of 208 Band 5 results were recorded where students had achieved a mark of 80 or more (47% of all results)
  • 13 Year 11 students completed Mathematics Extension 1 and 14 completed Mathematics Advanced

HSC All-Rounders and Achievers

Well done to three of our students who were recognised on the ‘All Round Achievers’ list with results in the highest possible band across 10 units of study – Darcy Faulkes, James Locke and Emily Ko.

Congratulations to Julian Torrillo for gaining 4th place in the state in Food Technology.

Notable ATAR Results

Three of our Year 12 Graduates scored an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) above 99, placing them in the top one percent nationally. With their permission we can share: Darcy Faulkes 99.6, James Locke 99.5 (who were equal Dux of Year 12) and Daniel Wakeford (3rd in Year 12) with an ATAR of 99.4.

An additional three students received an ATAR above 95 with 13 students in total receiving an ATAR above 90.

Congratulations to the following students for recognition of their HSC Major Works:

Felix Middleton was selected to be included in ARTEXPRESS 2022 for his Visual Arts Body of Work ‘The Traveller’ at the Bank Art Museum in Moree.

Emily Ko’s Visual Arts Body of Work ‘Blended’ was selected for inclusion in the Art Rules 2021 exhibition in the Broadhurst Gallery at Hazelhurst Arts Centre.

Emily Clark’s Visual Arts Body of Work ‘Pop’ was selected for inclusion in the ZOOMERS exhibition in the Main Gallery at Hazelhurst Arts Centre.

Textiles and Design student Georgia Long was selected for Texstyle 2022, the exhibition of a selection of exemplary HSC Textile and Design projects from the 2021 HSC.

Three students were nominated for SHAPE – the exhibition of a selection of exemplary major projects by Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Design students:

  • Emily Ko and Chelsea Russell – Industrial Technology
  • Georgia Long – Textiles and Design

The Drama Group Performance ‘The Child’ was nominated for OnSTAGE featuring students Mia Francesconi, Julia Green, Clare Hollis, Teyana Newman, Eythan Pankhurst and Daniel Wakeford.

Daniel Wakeford’s Individual Drama Performance ‘The Plum Role’ was nominated for OnSTAGE.

Drama student Teyana Newman’s individual project was nominated for OnSTAGE.

Dance student Tenaya Antonich’s Core Composition was nominated for Callback.

HSC Music compositions by Katherine Khoury and Daniel Wakeford were nominated for ENCORE.

Congratulations to the Class of 2021 and the incredible teachers and families who got them through under the most difficult of circumstances. We look forward to what the future brings.

NAPLAN results
The My School website profiles Inaburra School and includes details of its NAPLAN results. Click here for a direct link to the website.

Academic Results