A combination of high demand and limited capacity at its existing campuses has led private independent school, Reddam House Sydney, to open a new campus on the North Shore. Education Matters spoke with the school’s long-serving principals, Dee and Dave Pitcairn, about its growth and innovation.
For more than two decades, Reddam House Sydney has been at the forefront of providing a unique educational experience that blends academic rigor with a focus on developing confident, forward-thinking, well-rounded students.
An independent, co-educational, non-denominational school, Reddam House Sydney started as a Years 7 to 11 school in 2001 at its current Bondi campus. The school grew quickly and a new campus at nearby Woollahra was opened in 2003.
The Woollahra campus currently caters for students from preschool to Year 9, while students in Years 10 to 12 attend the Bondi campus.
Its new campus, Reddam House North Shore, opened for students in kindergarten to Year 10 on the first day of Term 1, 2025. It will welcome Year 11 students in 2026 and have its first HSC cohort in 2027. More on that later.
Originally founded in Sydney by Graeme Crawford, Reddam House was acquired in 2019 by Inspired Education Group, an international provider of for-profit schools. It subsequently switched to for-profit status and now receives no government funding.
At the heart of the Reddam House philosophy is the belief that academic excellence should go hand-in-hand with cultivating compassion and emotional intelligence in students.
Leading the way are South African born primary school principal Mrs Dee Pitcairn, and Mr Dave Pitcairn, principal of the Middle School (Year 7-9) based at Woollahra and Senior School (Year 10-12) at Bondi. They have been principals at Reddam House Sydney for the last 16 years. Prior to that, they were principals at Reddam House Constantia in Cape Town, South Africa, which they founded with Graeme Crawford’s sister, Sheena Crawford Kempster.
“The idea was that it would be a school where academic excellence was the central pillar, but also that it would be child-centered, and that kindness and empathy would be equally emphasised and taught,” Mrs Pitcairn says.
“It’s also about teachers understanding their role in cultivating that.”
The Performing Arts are a cornerstone of the Reddam House curriculum, with compulsory classes in music, drama, and public speaking from preschool through to Year 12.
“We believe that the emphasis on those performing arts, obviously to do with creativity, individuality, growth and self-confidence, are all part of what we believe create students who are confident, young people,” she says.
This unique approach has resonated with Australian families, leading to a growing waitlist and the decision to open a new Reddam House campus on Sydney’s North Shore in 2025.
“As we became more popular as a school, our waiting list grew to the extent that we wanted to be able to offer more children the opportunity to have this type of education,” Mr Pitcairn says.
Reddam House’s unprecedented demand is not unique. A new report released by Independent Schools Australia (ISA) in November 2024 reveals a substantial and ongoing shift towards Independent schools, driven by middle to low-income families who are increasingly making significant sacrifices for their children’s education.
According to ISA’s Independent Schooling 2024 – Enrolment Trends, Characteristics and Projections report, Independent schools have seen their strongest growth in more than a decade with enrolments increasing by 3.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
The national peak body said their projections indicate that this trend will continue, with Independent schools expected to become the largest non-government school sector by 2027.
ISA projects that by 2033 Independent schools will enrol 19.7 per cent of all Australian students. It speculated this growth will necessitate the establishment of approximately 282 new Independent schools or campuses, with the majority needed in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.
State-of-the-art campus
After 16 successful years operating two campuses in Sydney, Reddam House welcomed its first cohort of students at its new state-of-the-art school in Sydney’s North Shore at the beginning of the school year.
The decision to expand is not surprising, given the growing popularity of the Reddam House educational approach and academic results – including being in the top five schools in the state for HSC results in 2022 and 2023 – and the long waitlist of families eager to secure a spot.
With the existing campuses at capacity, the leadership team at Reddam House recognised the need to expand to a new location to meet the growing demand. After careful analysis, they identified Sydney’s North Shore as the ideal area to establish a third Reddam House school.
“When our enrolment team looked at our waiting list, they found significant numbers – upward of 1,000 students from preschool to Year 11 – were based on the North Shore,” Mr Pitcairn says.
“We knew that opening a school that could look after that need would be a great opportunity. We also have two Early Learning Schools on the North Shore, and Reddam House North Shore will be the natural progression for those students. It is one of the reasons we knew the demand was there, and those students get priority access.”
The process of securing a suitable site and navigating the necessary approvals was not without its challenges. The team ultimately secured the historic Harry Seidler-designed Simsmetal House, which required extensive remodelling to transform it into a modern, purpose-built educational facility.
Reddam House appointed AJC Architects to re-develop the heritage office building into the new Reddam House campus in North Sydney. The project marked a significant milestone in preserving architectural heritage while meeting modern educational needs.
In collaboration with Inspired Education and Built Australia, AJC transformed the iconic building into a state-of-the-art campus, opening this year.
The new campus boasts world-class facilities, including a performance space, theatre, sports hall, modern classrooms, high-tech science and design tech labs, music studios, multiple libraries, a gym, outdoor terraces with play areas, and a stunning rooftop terrace offering views of Sydney Harbour. The project also transformed the carpark into a school drop-off area and an auditorium.
Blending contemporary pedagogical innovation with sustainable design principles, the adaptive reuse of the Simsmetal House is a testament to the project’s commitment to preserving Seidler’s architectural legacy.
By repurposing an existing structure rather than demolishing and building anew, the project significantly reduced environmental impact and preserved the unique architectural character of the original design.
“This project was about being respectful of the existing building, the client’s drivers and putting them altogether to create a school that really functions,” AJC Director Ms Dua Green said.
“Every little piece of the building is working. A core project principle is that when an element goes in, it’s doing multiple things.”
The transformation will serve students from preschool through to Year 12. This comprehensive educational approach ensures a continuous and cohesive learning journey for students, fostering an environment where they can grow academically, socially, and emotionally from their early years through to their final school days.
The interior spaces have been designed to maximise natural light, enhance connectivity between classrooms and breakout spaces, and respect the heritage of the original building. The design has also exposed existing floor slab soffits where possible to create a sense of additional height, ensuring a modern yet respectful homage to the building’s history.
The new school and landscape includes several sustainability initiatives to support environmental benchmarks, such as:
- Passive design principles, including orientation, shading, insulation, natural ventilation, and daylight considerations for both internal spaces and external learning areas.
- Durable, low-maintenance, and low embodied energy material selection.
- Lighting automation with daylight sensors, period bell switching, and motion sensors to reduce power usage.
- Native planting to enhance the surrounding natural ecology.
- Visual and interactive sustainability features to promote the building itself as a learning tool, integrating sustainable practices and knowledge into the curriculum.
The jewel in the crown
As the education landscape continues to evolve, Reddam House is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technology into its curriculum.
When the school opened its new North Shore campus in January, its inaugural cohort of students were the first to experience learning in a dedicated metaverse room – a virtual reality-based learning facility that is revolutionising the way students engage with the digital world.
Utilising the latest Quest 3 headsets supplied by Meta, all teaching staff underwent virtual reality (VR) training as part of their two-week onboarding period before Term 1 started, provided by the EdTech team within the Inspired Education Group.
This team, alongside Meta, are leading a groundbreaking initiative to develop enhanced learning experiences. By harnessing cutting-edge VR technology, Inspired is revolutionising education, empowering teachers to deliver immersive and engaging lessons that take learning to the next level.
The metaverse room is available to students from Year 5 and above, providing them with an immersive, interactive learning environment that goes beyond the confines of the traditional classroom.
The integration of VR technology at Reddam House is a testament to the school’s commitment to staying at the forefront of educational innovation. By embracing the potential of virtual reality, the school aims to create a learning experience that is not only engaging and immersive, but also prepares students for the digital future they will inherit.
Ahead of the new campus opening in January 2025, the school had reportedly met its enrolment quota in November 2024, with 500 students enrolling. The strong enrolment figures were to be expected, given the long waitlist that had accumulated at Reddam House’s existing Sydney campuses.
The school had also completed a successful staffing recruitment process over the course of two terms, working to ensure they have the right staff in place to deliver the school’s signature curriculum and ethos.
“We’ve secured really top-notch teachers, and I think that makes a huge difference,” Mrs Pitcairn says.
“We started the process in the beginning of term two in 2024. By the beginning of term four, we only had one or two positions that we needed to fill,” she says.
The recruitment process has been a thorough one, with the school seeking out the best and brightest educators to join the Reddam House faculty.
Mr and Mrs Pitcairn have been appointed secondary and primary school principals respectively, at the new Reddam House North Shore campus.
Following an extensive search, former Deputy Principal Mr Warren Garratt will replace Mrs Pitcairn as Primary School Principal of Reddam House Sydney. Mr Garratt has been with Reddam House for 19 years.
Mr Simon Lees has been appointed as the Executive Principal of Reddam House Sydney, replacing Mr Pitcairn. Mr Lees was formerly Head of Toowoomba Anglican School in Toowoomba, Queensland.
