A REDLANDS principal has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for her services to public education throughout the past 45 years.
Gail Armstrong, principal of Alexandra Hills State High School, was bestowed the accolade by the Queensland Secondary Principals’ Association at its annual conference last month.
The award recognises significant contributions made to Queensland’s public education and to the association.
Ms Armstrong, who began teaching English and French at Cleveland District State High School in 1973, said she was humbled by the recognition.
“It is truly humbling to receive this award and it has been my honour to work with these young people at such a critical time in their lives,” she said.
Ms Armstrong first taught at Cleveland District State High School and belonged to several secondary school studies committees before moving to Canada in 1989 with her family to teach.
She later returned to take up the position of deputy principal at Browns Plains State High School, where she helped introduce the Overall Position system.
She later opened Sunshine Beach State High School in 1992 before her appointment as director of schools in 1995, a position based in New South Wales.
Ms Armstrong left the role to become principal of Loganlea State High School, where she set up a partnership between Griffith University, TAFE Queensland, Logan Hospital and the school to boost student outcomes.
She was also a founding member of the Logan Education Alliance, which was supported by Griffith University to connect Logan’s primary and secondary schools to build learning communities.
In 1999, Ms Armstrong joined the then Premier’s Council for Women.
She was appointed acting principal of Marsden State High School in 2000, helping the school to win a state showcase award for mathematics, before joining Kenmore State High School as its acting principal.
Ms Armstrong became the principal of Alexandra Hills State School in 2003 and has since set up excellence programs for the fields of robotics and automation, and rugby league.
The school is also connected with the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy to help students with engineering ambitions.
International studies have been boosted with more resources for students studying German, Italian and Japanese, with study tours from Japan and China also hosted at the school.
Ms Armstrong has also led Alexandra Hills State High School to become an independent public school, which means leadership staff have greater responsibility for the school’s direction and curriculum.
An Alexandra Hills State High School spokesperson said Ms Armstrong’s lifetime achievement award was well-deserved.
Ms Armstrong has also helped Queensland Secondary Principals’ Association members with human resources-related issues since 2005, when she joined the association’s executive.
She was also awarded the John Laing Development award in 2011 and has served on numerous education-related committees, including the reducing red tap reference group and the gateway to industry schools program steering committee.