The new principal of Investigator College, at Victor Harbor, doesn’t intend to spend much time in his new office when the school year starts at the end of this month.

Instead John Robinson wants to be out in the yard, greeting parents and getting to know the students streaming back into school after the long summer holidays. 

“I’m the type of principal who wants to know every child, every parent and every grandparent and even every dog that comes to school,” he says. 

“I believe strongly in community engagement.”

Before moving to Investigator John was the principal of Trinity College North in Gawler and before that, the Deputy Principal of Scotch College in Adelaide.   He grew up on a farm on the lower Yorke Peninsula and enjoys country life, surrounded by pets and wildlife.

He’s lived in the Adelaide Hills for the past 25 years, where he and his wife Cathy care for a menagerie of animals, including a rescue horse and orphaned possums.  Luckily one of his three children became a vet. 

Not surprisingly, John values kindness and respect towards both animals and people and says he wants to encourage Investigator students to ask themselves how they can make the world a better place.   

He puts a high value on manners and social skills, as well as 21st century skills that enable creativity, collaboration and encourage a student’s natural entrepreneurship.

“I want to continue the school’s approach of being your best self, along with an emphasis on well-being and merging this with academic achievement,” John explains.  

Well-being is a passion for John and he has given several talks at conferences on the importance of well-being for both staff and students.

He points out that staff well-being is one of the most important factors in making a school a positive environment for students and that when teachers and other staff members feel valued, students benefit.

An important part of his first few weeks will be ensuring that students and parents from the now closed Goolwa campus settle into campus life at Victor Harbor.  He plans to re-establish the parents and friends network.

“I want every parent to feel invested in the college and every old scholar as well,” he says.

“So they help to give students that special place.”