The Business Of School - Brought To You By Cole Connect

Welcome to a special episode of The Business of School podcast, recorded live from ASBA 2025 in Garramilla/Darwin. This is Part 1 of our deep dive into the most pressing issues facing independent K-12 schools across Australia and New Zealand today.Running a school in our current landscape comes with its own unique set of complexities, from managing ever-evolving data requirements to ensuring rock-solid compliance and fostering resilient teams. In this episode, we bring you direct insights from experts and school leaders on the ground, sharing their challenges and practical approaches.In this episode, you'll discover:- Data Governance & Information Management: Kyle Young from Konica Minolta unpacks the critical importance of data governance, offering health checks for Microsoft environments and strategies for managing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) across platforms like OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. Learn why adherence to legislation and knowing where to start are the biggest hurdles for schools, and how this prepares you for AI adoption and Privacy Act changes.- Compliance & Strategic Pressures: Brenden Hood, Business Manager at Our Lady's College, highlights the significant challenges of compliance and governance, particularly around debt collection, privacy, and data security, noting the added pressure on busy roles. Jacques Cronje, CFO at St Philip's Christian Education Group, shares insights into juggling commitments and focusing on future sustainability and financial margins.- Staffing & Team Resilience: Greg Gapp, Business Development and Operations Leader at Silkwood School, discusses the major challenge of keeping and finding specialist staff, and how this impacts team resilience when existing staff take on more. Brenden Hood also shares valuable strategies for empowering and supporting his team to build resilience and stay connected to their core 'why'.This episode offers a practical look at the solutions and strategies emerging from the ASBA 2025 discussions, essential for any school leader focused on efficient operations and sustainable growth.Don't miss out! Tune in for expert insights and actionable takeaways that can help your school navigate its biggest challenges.

Today on the Business of School podcast, we're joined by Lucas Filer, one of the co-founders of Compass —a platform that, over the past 15 years, has grown from a bold idea into a core administration system used by thousands of schools across Australia and beyond.

In this conversation, we’ll hear how Compass was shaped by real-world school challenges, the relationships that informed its development, and how a vision of reducing complexity and improving school efficiency continues to guide its future.

This episode offers practical insights into how a software platform built for schools can support schools to achieve their strategic goals.

Toni Powell is a renowned speaker known for her hilarious keynotes and ridiculously simple (yet wildly effective) wellbeing hacks that people actually remember and use. She’s an author, award-winning filmmaker, and the unforgettable subject of an ABC’s Australian Story episode called Let There Be Light. Her powerful Goalcast talk The Power of Words has reached over 15 million viewers worldwide. During the pandemic, Victoria University invited Toni to create a coached wellbeing program for 12 exhausted school principals. That program—now called HAPPY HEALTHY STRONG TEAMS—was such a hit it went on to be offered through the WA Department of Education’s Leadership Institute for two full years. The program has also been run by DoE NSW and some principal associations have offered it to their members. To date, more than 500 school and Department leaders have taken part in this fun, fast, and refreshingly easy approach to culture change and staff wellbeing.

Paul is Head of Marketing and Sales at The Alpha School System (TASS), a Brisbane-based software company that develops software for the independent school sector throughout Australia and overseas. Through four product lines, TASS provides solutions for all key operating areas, including school management, student management, and educational data analytics.An initiative-driven and experienced leader with over 25 years of expertise across all facets of business, Paul is adept at translating complex business challenges into realistic, achievable solutions and driving execution through high-performance teams.

Originally from a finance and accounting background, Ravi's passion for technology inevitably led him to leadership roles in the ERP and cloud services space. An innovator at heart, the next logical step was founding his own technology company, where he'd be able to create solutions and see the difference they made firsthand. Since then, he's been solving business problems and enabling lasting change for multinational organisations. Feoda is a technology platform that brings Orcale Netsuite into the education sector to meet innovatively the finance needs of schools.

Amy's background in schooling has suitably led to her current role at Torrens Valley Christian School as an Application Support Officer in the I.T. Department. Amy has previously worked in China at an international school and in a variety of roles with the admin team at Torrens Valley.Change is no stranger to the modern school and in her unique role for a school, Amy has worked with leadership and staff at Torrens Valley through various system and process changes.

We talk with John Somerset about schools being financially sustainable and what challenges they face today. We also dive into what the future may hold for school finance and the new strategies we will see implemented.

As part of the TASS on Tour event in Adelaide, The Alpha School System invited Cole School Experts to be part of the panel discussing the topic of Managing Change in Schools. Along with leadership representatvies from local schools, Torrens Valley Christian School and Prince Alfred College, our COO, Kenton Newall, joined the conversation around the evolving world of school technology and how best to navigate that involving all stakeholders of the school. Join TASS host Meredith Borger as she facilitates this informative discussion.

Matt is a passionate and dedicated student of exceptional performance. He founded Driven From Within with a desire to help schools and their teams engage in continuous and sustainable improvement.

For almost 30 years Brad has worked in Accounting, Finance, ICT and Business Management roles in a variety of corporate and not-for-profit businesses, most recently Education. Brad’s ability to mitigate financial, environmental, and reputational risk as Business Director for Lutheran Education in SA, NT & WA has kept him engaged with the education sector for the last 7 years. Brad diligently partners with their learning community’s Board, Principal and Business Manager, to achieve missional goals whilst also ensuring regulatory compliance and reporting obligations are met.