DAVID Shepherd always wanted to be a teacher, like his mother.<\/p>\n
Entering the profession, he spent 13 years teaching at Wesley College, and was deputy principal of Scotch College, Adelaide.<\/p>\n
In 1997, Mr Shepherd was appointed principal of Ballarat Clarendon College, a school of 580 students, and his family moved to Ballarat.<\/p>\n
Now entering his 26th year as BCC\u2019s leader, with 1830 students, and for his service to secondary education, he\u2019s been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia this Australia Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed, really. I\u2019ve had such a wonderful time in the profession,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more exciting and uplifting than dealing with young people, they\u2019re brilliant. They\u2019re the highest priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wake up every day and have a new challenge. You\u2019ve always got new kids coming along. There\u2019s always work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although \u201chumbled and honoured,\u201d Mr Shepherd said his medal is an award for the broader BCC community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reflects everybody that I work with. If we work together to help young people grow into the best versions of themselves then everybody gets recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe colleagues I\u2019ve worked with over 25 years are spectacular, they work hard, care about the young people, and they\u2019re good to work with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A member of the Victorian Branch of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, Mr Shepherd said regional Victoria offers quality education as good as anywhere else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty determined that we can do it as well as anybody, and the fact that you mightn\u2019t be in a capital city doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t be in a high-performing organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to try and give the kids from this part of Victoria the opportunity to do whatever they want, and we\u2019ve managed to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A supporter of the Ballarat Foundation and Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Mr Shepherd sees importance in showing young people that each person has a responsibility to be a \u201cgood community citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under his leadership, BCC was awarded Non-Government Secondary School of the Year at the 2019 Australian Education Awards.<\/p>\n
Mr Shepherd has previously received the Principals Australia Institute John Laing Professional Development Award, and Australian College of Educators\u2019 Senior Educator of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVID Shepherd always wanted to be a teacher, like his mother. Entering the profession, he spent 13 years teaching at Wesley College, and was deputy principal of Scotch College, Adelaide. In 1997, Mr Shepherd was appointed principal of Ballarat Clarendon College, a school of 580 students, and his family moved to Ballarat. Now entering his […]<\/p>\n