Mr Clayton Jones OAM

Hailing from Ireland, Clayton Jones completed his Diploma of Education at Trinity College in Dublin. His formal career began at the idyllic Cross and Passion Convent, a boarding school for girls in Kilcullen, which offered a stark contrast to a previous placement at a ‘Dickensian’ remand home for juvenile boys. Teaching a diverse group of students – “murderers, thieves and all the rest” – this baptism of fire taught Clayton invaluable lessons that he employed throughout his career. 

Following the sun to Sydney and its cricket season, what was intended as a brief sojourn evolved into almost two years at Miller High School in Western Sydney, followed by eight years at Newington College in Stanmore, and then a decade at SCECGS Redlands as Head of Mathematics and Senior Master. It was at a SCECGS senior staff meeting that Clayton first heard the news Girton College had collapsed. Indignant that this fate should befall another Anglican school, as it had done to the SCEGGS in the 1970s, Headmaster Peter Cornish asked who was interested in assisting the Parents and Friends. Clayton raised his hand – a pivotal decision that soon saw him transported to the stage of Strathdale Hall, as John Higgs appealed to parents to commit to founding Girton Grammar School. Astonished by the passionate response of the parents and students, Clayton was convinced he had to be involved in this journey.

Building a school from scratch presented monumental challenges – from acquiring a campus, to completing renovations, to securing government funding, to hiring staff, to developing a curriculum and attracting enrolments. However, the immense workload was lightened by the founders’ careful division of labour and trust. After focusing his efforts on assembling a dedicated body of staff and setting the new entity’s philosophy and practices, Clayton experienced a proud moment of vindication at Girton Grammar’s opening ceremony on 2 February 1993, seeing the strongly united school community seated before him. 

Girton became Clayton’s life’s work. Serving more than 17 years as Headmaster, he is grateful for the profound opportunity it offered and the multitude of memories made – one of the most significant being his first introduction to the legendary Head of Frew, Robin Kurrle, whom he married later that year. These days, Clayton is enjoying a pleasant retirement with Robin – travelling abroad, visiting his children and grandchildren in Sydney, and golfing “with unjustifiable optimism” after tackling The Times cryptic crossword. He also provides mathematics tuition to a current student, an arrangement sweetened by the student's lawn-mowing services.