Turning Around a Troubled School is the story of a very public leadership challenge in reversing the fortunes of a failing government school in the affluent eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. The school population had crashed from over one thousand students to just over two hundred and fifty and the school had been given only twelve months to turn around otherwise it would be closed. Peter Hutton, a new principal with a bold vision took on the task. Eight years later the population had grown to over one thousand, and the school was recognised internationally as one of the most innovative in the world.
The book provides practical insights into the steps taken to turn the school around, the challenges faced and the milestones that reveal that a school culture is moving.
This is the personal leadership story of the first two years of that journey of school renewal told with Peter's unique form of brutal honesty that will hopefully support and encourage other school leaders facing similar tough times