21°C | Saturday May 24, 2025 
21 October 2024
By Hannah Wilcox
The opening of Reddam House’s newest North Sydney campus is fast approaching. The Sun sat down with Dave – one half of the Pitcairn power couple who will run the school – to get to know the principals and hear more about what to expect for the campus.
Situated at 41 McLaren Street at the 1972 historic Simsmetal House, the eight-storey building will accommodate more than 1340 students from kindergarten to year 12.
Upgrades on the block include the addition of 1,650 square metres of educational space to the existing building, which will house a performance space, theatre, sports hall as well as modern classrooms, science and design tech labs, music rooms, drama and dance studios and a library.
The carpark is set to be transformed into a school drop-off zone and auditorium.
It will welcome its first cohort in Term 1 next year.
Dave and Dee have been current principals of the original Reddam House Sydney campus in Woollahra for more than 15 years.
Originally from South Africa, they made the cross-continent move after Graeme Crawford, friend and founder of Reddam, reached out with an opportunity of a lifetime.
“[Graeme] and I were at uni together and he suggested that Dee and I open a Redham school in Cape Town,” Dave recalled.
“Together with his sister, he came to Sydney and started this Reddam here in 2001.”
He continued: “In 2009, he was visiting us in South Africa and said his primary school principal and his senior school principal have both resigned within a few weeks of each other. Would we be interested in moving to Sydney and carrying on the job that we were doing in South Africa for him here?”
“We just thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for our family and then quite a lovely challenge for us. So we did. We moved here in 2009 and have loved every minute of being here in Sydney.”
Dave and Dee also met during their fourth year at university in South Africa and have been together ever since.
He said their dynamic is advantageous for the school as it makes it a ‘family affair’.
“Students, including our own children, actually went from primary school with Dee as the principal and I would go and support her at all the functions – then I would know the primary school kids when they come to the high school,” the principal explained.
“Parents felt that there was a continuity from the mom to the dad, or the school, as it were.”
“We have a very clear boundary. She does all the primary school stuff and I do all the high school stuff,” Dave added.
“So in that way we’re very separate at school. We run our own programs, primary and high – we run it our own ways and it’s worked well for 25 years so far.”
When asked what makes Reddam stand out from other educational offerings around, giving it the confidence to build a school from the ground up in a whole new area, Dave said there is an obvious demand by parents for progressive, co-educational, non-denominational learning.
“Having academic excellence as its core focus, I think it’s very appealing to more modern parents who are moving away from more traditional schools,” he shared.
“Having been at a boys school myself, I see the benefit of co-ed as being part of the education – learning how to get on with boys and girls, and then boys and girls you like and don’t like, and that’s equally important.
“That just sets them up for the workforce and beyond school.”
The principal added there was a big demand for the kind of education that Reddam offers within the North Shore.
“The reason the [North Sydney campus] became necessary was because of the type of education we’re offering here and the demand for it,” Dave said.
“The waiting list is just becoming astronomical. We looked at the waiting list and saw that there were at least a thousand applications from kindergarten through to Year 12 that were North Shore addresses.”
“I believe that what is becoming more and more obvious is that there is a need for this type of school.”
“It gives parents a choice, because I’m not saying we are the type of school for everyone. What I am saying is that parents deserve the choice of something like us.”
Dave said the interest was not just from potential students and parents, but also from educators looking to join the Reddam system.
“I was amazed. There were over 800 teachers that applied for 20 positions,” he recalled.
“And to me, the excitement is that there’s so many teachers who are looking for this type of education, not just parents and students.”
Dave added: “Where teachers are getting tired of maybe coaching Saturday sport. Here, our teachers will teach, that’s their job.”
“To make sure that there’s this academic rigour, academic excellence, and they’re all on board with the fact that’ll be our true north. And everything else adds to that – the sport program, which is massive, the cultural performing arts program, which is huge.
“The performing arts, the compulsory nature of drama, music, art, dance, public speaking,” he continued.
“That’s the beauty of the school, that it’s not that traditional emphasis on what an academic looks like.”
“While there’s space for excellence in mathematics, excellence in physics, chemistry, we believe that you can be equally academic if you’re good at dance, music, art.”
Dave and Dee will be making the switch over to co-head Reddam House North Shore in 2025, with 400 students already signed up to join them.
For more information, visit the Reddam House website.