New college names founding principal

The new principal of Our Lady of Mercy College was announced last week, with present Nagle Catholic College principal Rob Crothers named in the top job.

Bunbury Catholic College school board chairman Danny Griffin made the announcement on Friday morning via a letter to parents outlining Mr Crothers’ background.

According to the new principal, the splitting of Bunbury Catholic College’s Mercy campus into its own institution was a unique one and said it brought with it its own challenges.

“Our Lady of Mercy is being established in its own right as a new school, the idea of going in as founding principal is particularly exciting,” he said.

“The opportunity is there for the campus to develop its own identity and become totally focused on the mission.

“I was involved as a foundation staff member earlier in my career at a catholic school in Perth and found it to be a really rewarding experience.”

Mr Crothers will bring a wealth of experience in leadership positions, having held his present title of principal at Nagle for the past six years after a six-year stint as the head of secondary school at Newman College and two years as the head of the middle school at Ursula Frayne Catholic College before that.

“My aspiration is to always work in partnership with people,” he said.

“I really value relationships with the students and with the parents, if you can establish good relationships then that becomes a foundation going forward.

“Students have a lot of different interests and we want to be able to respond to those and provide opportunities for the students to follow.”

Professional duties at Our Lady of Mercy College will not start until January for Mr Crothers who will fulfil the rest of his contractual duties at Nagle until the end of the school year.

“I’m extremely excited,” he said.

“I’m quite sad to be leaving Geraldton but this is a unique opportunity.”