Anglican Schools Commission
An Anglican education
Ivan McLean, Chief Operating Officer
In the middle of 2021, I returned to Western Australia and to working in Anglican schools after more than five years working internationally for a secular system of schools. While overseas, I distinctly remember dealing with an incident at the school I led and looking for a Chaplain to be involved in the processing of the incident, for the sake of both students and staff.
After working in four different Anglican schools in Western Australia prior to moving overseas, it was so natural for me to reach for meaning and thoughtful communication through an Anglican Chaplain. I thought it would have worked well with all the students, despite being a secular setting, given the deep reach of our Anglicanism in the true via media.
There were quite a few other incidents like this while I was away, and I really missed the strength afforded to our worshipping communities through our School Chaplains. It was no surprise, then, that immediately upon my return to WA, I looked to rejoin the ASC and our broader Anglican community. While 2022 was my first year at St Mark’s Anglican Community School, it was my tenth year in the ASC.
Having now been in the ASC for more than a decade, it felt quite natural for me to join the Head Office in the middle of this year as the Chief Operating Officer. Our schools have a fabulous diversity among them, but all share a similar vision established by pioneers of the past such as Peter Moyes, Barbara Godwin and other such luminaries in the world of Anglican education in WA. Interestingly, despite the background of the schools that most of these led, they served a joint desire to see quality, affordable Anglican education provided across the state through the ASC. Peter Laurence, Lynne Thomson and others have grown this objective to a national point of view, with ASC schools now located in Victoria, New South Wales and across our vast State.
As teacher, leader or COO, it has made working in our schools and system such a joy to know that each and every person matters to the development of both our Anglican identity and the education of our youth. I love being a part of our system that, within a few years, will be making a difference to around 20,000 students.