Dr John Newton, Founder, Sursum Solutions
John holds a degree in French and Russian from Oxford University and a PhD in Organisational Culture from the University of Reading.
He has been a CEO and school leader for 18 years, 10 years at Taunton School in Somerset and 8 years at Scotch College, South Australia.
A ruthless focus on culture, especially through the global financial crisis and the pandemic ensured success for both these schools.
Taunton School sustained a 10%+ surplus throughout the GFC through to his departure in December 2014. It was well equipped to manage downturns after Brexit and the pandemic, and to continue to invest in its infrastructure and programmes today.
John's second school, Scotch College, achieved and then exceeded benchmark returns for high fee private schools regularly achieving 13% actual surpluses.
It opened the Purruna Spencer Newton Centre in February 2023 at a cost of $35M, raising in excess of $10M from donors.
Furthermore, Scotch built a commercial partnership with Bella Education in Vietnam, aiming to bring a multimillion dollar extra annual income to the College from 2028.
This was made possible by a change of culture and mindset to address the deteriorating private school business model. Norms were challenged so as to craft a new cultural landscape. He took a complex community of parents, staff, board members, former students and influential stakeholders on a journey to move to new and enhanced income streams for the College’s long-term security and investment.
Creating and sustaining strong cultures in both institutions enabled progress of this magnitude and quantum. Without strong cultures, high quality of delivery in every part of the organisation, financial control, enhanced reputation, market share and therefore the foundations of long-term success would not have been possible.
