Welcome

Mr Hoggins

Oriana Briganti, Buckley House School Captain 

Mr Hoggins, the new Head of Buckley House, brings a wealth of experience and leadership qualities that will promise a bright future ahead. I have asked Mr Hoggins a few questions about his hopes and goals for the year, how he is settling in and what makes an effective leader as Mr Hoggins himself is a role model for aspiring leaders. 

How are you settling in? 

'I am really enjoying my role on the Ivanhoe Grammar School committee and have been warmly welcomed and supported since I first was appointed. Mr Feben was particularly helpful, and really generous with his time because he lead me through some of the handover. I have also had the fantastic opportunity to work with lots of different leaders including Mrs Eaton, Mr Coleman, Mrs Hartnell and the rest of the team, they were all very helpful and willing to listen to all my new ideas and together we are all running the School as a group.' 

What are your hopes and goals for the year? 

'To begin with, my goal is to make sure I create strong connections with this community so getting to know students, teachers, parents and the rest of the educators that work here at Ivanhoe Grammar is really important to me. My hope for this year will be like every other year, to keep improving student learning at this school so wherever our kids currently are in their learning journey I want to make sure we do our upmost to make sure every child succeeds. As much as I want all the kids to succeed, I also want to work with my teachers so I can see how they can grow and continuously get better in their teaching practice. As well as that I want to make sure that character development and globalist education continue to grow at our campus and improve.' 

What makes an effective leader? 

'An effective leader has to be able to listen because I think if you are going to lead other people then you need to be willing to genuinely listen to those people and take their opinion. I think a leader needs to be brave as leadership is not easy and sometimes you have to make some difficult decisions and do difficult things. This is like one of my favourite sayings “you wouldn’t ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t be prepared to do you self.” I also think effective leaders needs to be clear, set an example for others to follow and they work collaboratively as a team not ruling over others. Another thing that is very important is I think leaders have to be considerate on how things might make others feel and they show empathy towards other people. '

Do you have any advice for aspiring leaders? 

'My first piece of advice is to take a risk by stepping up when there is an opportunity. You can show leadership in a formal position or just a time in a classroom where someone needs to step up in a group activity. You need to use your voice and have a positive mindset because most people don’t try new things because they don’t have a positive mindset and think “Maybe I am not good enough.’’ This reminds me of a saying called fail. To fail means to have a “First attempt in learning” Which means its okay to fail and make mistakes you just learn from them. Learning about leadership is a good piece of advice because people show leadership differently and you can learn what it means to be a good leader. '