Headmaster graduates to retirement

During a special 25-year birthday school celebration last Friday, the 58-year-old headmaster made the shock announcement to the school's 1200 students.

"I never put a number of years on my retirement, it just happened to coincide with the 25-year anniversary," he said.

"I won't be quitting, because my job is to make a difference. So instead of retiring and sitting back and relaxing, I'm going to begin a doctorate and continue to make a difference to education."

Mr Todd said 2013 was the year to move on, but was confident the college's high standard of child-focused and child-centred Christian learning would continue well into the future.

"I'm not the type of person who is going to leave the school and hope that it doesn't change from the way I left it," he said.

"It's taken 25 years to build the school to what it is now, but I hope in another 25 years I'll continue to see it grow. I could only see it continue to get better."

Mr Todd said he would get tearful on his final day, upset about leaving the staff, half of whom had taught at the school since 1988.

"We're a close-knit school and all of the teaching staff are just fantastic. Many of the other teachers were once students themselves at Redlands College," he said.

"But it will also be very hard to say goodbye to the students. From day one in 1988, the school existed for the kids and their education. The day it's not the school will close its doors."

Mr Todd said the idea of creating a school with a curriculum that put the student's needs first came to him when he was 16.

"Our education system was designed for people who fit into the system, but not for those who don't. If you can't write or struggle at a subject the system doesn't cater for you," he said.

"We don't believe in that and believe that education should be individualised for the student. I wanted to achieve this and set out to do it."

He said one major milestone the school had achieved was the introduction of iPad learning which had greatly helped the school achieve individualised learning and had paved the way for future development.

"It has been a wonderful achievement and all students at the College from Grade 2 to 12 have their own iPad to learn on," he said.

"For the students in Grade Year one and Prep they share iPads in the classroom and thoroughly enjoy the experience."

Mr Todd said the idea of retiring and putting his feet up was "out of the question" and would be kept busy studying a Doctorate in education.

"I'm yet to pin down exactly what I want to do, but I won't be leaving the Redlands anytime soon," he said.