Going beyond call of duty
CLEANING toilets and mowing lawns was all part of the job when Dr Mark Sly was appointed as foundation principal of Coomera Anglican College (CAC) in 1996.
One of the Gold Coast’s longest-serving principals, Dr Sly is this year celebrating 25 years at the helm of the Upper Coomera school.
“I remember trying to attract students on the strength of a drawing on the wall, we didn’t have a building at that stage,” he said.
He said Ivan Gibbs, one of Queensland’s longest-serving state MPs and a member of the local Anglican parish, helped establish CAC and had a group of willing supporters who worked hard to get things happening.
“It was pretty rural in Coomera back then and people would say ‘why would you put a school in the middle of nowhere’, but look at the area now, it’s phenomenal,” he said.
Dr Sly, who was 39 at the time, said there were many challenges to work through including borrowing money to build and being heavily in debt.
“It used to keep me awake at night, worrying about everything,” he said.
But with wife Chris at his side, the pair navigated their way through it all and designed the school’s uniforms, made the college’s prayers and even cleaned toilets.
“I used to mow the grass, clean toilets – it’s what needed to be done to get things up and running. The school would have never survived if I had said ‘that’s not my job’.”
Sixty children attended the first year at the college. Dr Sly knew every family and child by name.
“I think the parents who sent their children were incredibly brave enrolling on the strength of a promise – it was quite the leap of faith,” he said.
Nowadays the school has more than 1450 students from prep to year 12 and about 150 preschoolers attached to its early learning centre.
Before he took the job, Dr Sly was deputy principal at another Anglican school in Brisbane.
“It wasn’t something I sought out, being a principal, but my principal at the time said I should put my hand up,” he said.
“Over the years I’ve been approached by schools from across the country wanting me to take up a role, but I’ve chosen to stay here because I made a commitment to this college and this area.”
Dr Sly said it was exciting for him to see second generation students coming to the school, including his own grandchildren.
“My daughter and son were at the school when we first opened and now they have children at the college and one is in the early learning centre.”
Establishing traditions in the school was important to Dr Sly and he created a rite of
passage where primary students cross a bridge into the senior school campus. This also happens for preschoolers starting prep.
“It’s something our children really look forward to and a tradition I’m proud to have instigated,” he said.
Dr Sly turns 65 in September and while he’s approaching retirement age, he isn’t giving much away in regards to when he will step down.
“I’ve had to reinvent myself many times and definitely seen a lot of change, but the thing with our college is that we’ve stuck to our values and that’s been a constant throughout the history of the college,” he said.
“People have come and gone but our values have stayed the same.
“When I do go I know the place will continue to go from strength-to-strength. If it didn’t then I wouldn’t have done a very good job in the first place.”