A Perth principal has been poached to take the helm at elite Brisbane girls school Somerville House from next year.
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The appointment of Kim Kiepe, principal of St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls in Western Australia, comes after Somerville House former principal Florence Kearney was removed in October last year.
Ms Kearney was due to serve out the rest of 2017 after she announced her intention to step down in the wake of a security breach involving a former senior staff member but was stood down in October.
Dr Ness Goodwin was appointed principal at Somerville House following Ms Kearney's departure.
The Council of Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association (PMSA) announced Mrs Kiepe would start her role at the prestigious school from January.
Mrs Kiepe has three decades of experience teaching and leading across several Anglican girls’ schools in Queensland including St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School in Corinda and St Hilda’s School on the Gold Coast.
Mrs Kiepe said she was looking forward to returning to Brisbane with her husband and two adult children.
“I am committed to maintaining past traditions and building strong relationships within the Somerville community,” she said in a statement released by PMSA, which is also responsible for Clayfield College, Brisbane Boys College and Sunshine Coast Grammar School.
Somerville House Parents and Friends-aligned group Beyond PMSA welcomed Mrs Kiepe into the community but expressed disappointment at being left out of the consultation and recruitment process.
"The complete lack of consultation with the Somerville House community and representative bodies over the process for selection, appointment and announcement is glaringly apparent," Beyond PMSA said in a statement.
"This behaviour is unbelievably contemptuous and is indefensible in the current environment of heightened emotion and concern for the future of the school."
PMSA came under heavy fire last year over it's management in the wake of information leaks, a high-ranking school staffer’s transfer to an overarching body and the standing down of Ms Kearney.
Beyond PMSA called for an independent inquiry into how the governing body was run, as well as greater transparency and in November retired judge Richard Chesterman was appointed to "heal" the hostile relationship between the outraged parents and the governing body.
