Simon Murray

Simon Murray is the Director of Up School Consulting and provides expert advice to schools globally in the fields of leadership, strategic planning, wellbeing, academic enhancement, mentoring and innovation in education. He has current or recent engagements in Australia, China, South Africa and Pakistan.

Previously Headmaster of three schools for 27 years, and an educator for over 40 years, his contribution to education is significant. He served as the 14th Headmaster of St Peter’s College, Adelaide from 2010 until July 2017. Before this, he was Headmaster of Canberra Grammar School for twelve years (1998 –2010) which followed eight years as Headmaster of Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School (1991 –1998). In recognition of his executive leadership, Simon was elected by his peers to be the Chairman of the Association of Heads of Independent School of Australia (AHISA) from 2009 – 2011. Simon is a past Board member of the Independent Schools Council of Australia. He is a past Chairman of The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT and was a member of the Executive of The Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia.

Simon was appointed a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 2008 for his leadership in the independent school sector and in 2017 he was awarded The South Australian Fellowship Award by Australian Council of Educational Leaders in recognition of his service to education in South Australia. He was appointed an Honorary Member of AHISA in 2017.

In June 2018 Simon Murray was awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to secondary education and professional associations.

In June 2019 he was honoured for his pioneering work, contribution and internationally recognised leadership in the field of Positive Education by the University of Pennsylvania and the Eisenhower Fellowships.

Simon has advanced the field of wellbeing, positive psychology and positive education across five areas: governance, publications, philanthropy, political engagement, and executive leadership.

He is a founding member and inaugural Chairman of Australia’s Positive Education Schools Association with over 2000 members. He was also founding member of the Board of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN). In February 2020, he became Global Chair of the IPEN Board.

Simon has co-edited two scholarly books on evidence-based applications of positive psychology and future directions in wellbeing. He has published scientific articles, book chapters and presented on positive psychology and positive education at conferences in Australia, China, USA, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He negotiated a lead partnership with South Australia’s Premier securing Martin Seligman as Thinker in Residence and hosted policy makers, scholars, and practitioners on positive psychology, opening St Peter’s College to thousands of members of the public. He contributed to a Wellbeing Summit at No. 10 Downing Street and under his leadership established St Peter’s College as a world leader in the field of wellbeing.

Significantly he has worked extensively with disadvantaged schools, both individual schools and clusters, to develop whole-of-school wellbeing programs with the aim of enabling students in these schools to flourish both at school and in their later lives. Simon has garnered the support of philanthropists to fund school wellbeing programs.

He is a member of the Advisory Board for the School of Education at the University of Adelaide and in June 2018 he was appointed to the Board of the Centre for Positive Psychology (now the Centre for Wellbeing Science) at the University of Melbourne. In 2017 he was appointed as Chief Advisor to the Positive Education China Academy, a peak body bringing Positive Education to China.

Simon was actively involved in the Anglican Diocese of Bunbury, WA as a member of the Diocesan Council and also in the Diocese of Canberra Goulburn as a member of the Ministry Executive and Bishop in Council. He was also an appointed member of the Diocesan Council in the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide.