Vice Principal Candidates’ Biography
The three VP candidates will be visiting Sha Tin College on 7th and 8th March for their final interviews. Please see below for a short biography for each of the candidates.
Ms Kellie Fagan
I have led and strategically managed curriculum and pastoral programmes, both in my current position at Creative Secondary School, and previously as Deputy Head of German Swiss International School. In my current role, I have introduced positive education and a restorative practice framework, which has resulted in improved student engagement and sense of community. When joining German Swiss, I was recruited to lead the school through the authorisation and implementation of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. This change in senior curriculum impacted positively on student learning and nurtured a more collaborative approach to meeting student outcomes. In both roles, I have actively fostered a culture of communication and professional learning across the school. I really enjoy working collaboratively, value the opinion of others and continue to learn from my colleague’s strengths. I am strongly committed to the transformational power of experiential learning and have been fortunate enough to lead in this area, initiating action weeks and expanding existing programmes.
Outside of school I can often be found under the water, most likely in the Philippines, exploring wrecks or hunting down thresher sharks. I love a good long train trip and am not afraid to tackle Siberia in the winter.
Mr Joe Holroyd
Joe Holroyd comes from London originally, and is currently based in France at École des Roches, where he is Deputy Head (Academic). Prior to this, he worked for four years at Canadian International School of Hong Kong, where he was IB Coordinator. Joe has a background in teaching DP & MYP Literature, plus DP Film and TOK, and currently teaches DP Psychology and Global Politics. Former roles have included TOK Coordinator (NIST Bangkok) and Head of English (YCIS Shanghai), and he works for the IB as a workshop leader and school visitor. Joe is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning, having pursued postgraduate qualifications in Literature, Philosophy, Creative Writing and the Social Sciences throughout his teaching career. Recent CPD has included the MiSP .b mindfulness training certification, PYP Administration, leadership training at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and he is in the midst of doctoral studies at Paris Dauphine. Previous publications have included a peer-reviewed Lacanian literary analysis of Philip Roth’s The Human Stain (Purdue UP), and short fiction in Flash! The International Short Story Magazine (Chester UP).,
Social and emotional well-being, and its centrality to a holistic, student-centred model of learning such as the IB’s is at the core of Joe’s work – both professionally, and academically. His presentation at the IB Global Conference last year built upon his research at HKU and his leadership at Canadian International School, as they took a competitive IB programme in a more student-centred, socially and emotionally engaged direction.
Joe is trained as a counsellor – which labour-of-love he also shares with his wife Nicole, a US citizen, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist. Outside of work, Joe enjoys hiking, basketball, boxing, reading and sharing a broad love of the arts with his wife and friends. In the last year, Joe has been pleased to discover how – just as he can combine his love of boxing or basketball with working in schools through coaching – he can combine his love of literature with his other job as a daddy: reading to his infant son Bobby.
Mr Michael Moore
Piaget wrote, “We must approach learning with the head, the heart, and the hands.” This captures exactly who I am as an educator. I have been a professional educator for over 20 years, and as I continue to learn and grow, I find that this statement over time holds true. The role of education is to prepare students for the world in which they will live. “Schooling” is not only academics but about human flourishing.
As a Senior Academic Leader at the International School of Düsseldorf, I am responsible for the IBDP programme, senior school pedagogy, involved in whole school strategic planning and implementation, facility renovation, the promotion of innovative educational practices, staff professional development and accreditation. I am a Social Studies Teacher, CIS team accreditation leader, workshop facilitator, and a certified K-12 principal with international experience. I understand that education is about relationships and built on trust.
I am the youngest son of an Air Force Colonel and a Math teacher. Being an Air Force ‘brat’, we moved around a lot. I was born in Hawaii, lived in England, and spent my high school and college years in Ohio. I am an educator, athlete, adventurer, enquirer, and a lifelong learner. Foremost, I am a family man and father of two. As an educator, I have always been fascinated with pedagogy and child development. This is now more real as a parent. Subsequently, as a school leader, I better empathize with parents regarding child development, safety, social interactions and the like. I believe the IB learner profile to be a framework for life long development, and I endeavor to nurture those characteristics in my children, in the students I teach, in the faculty I work with, and in myself.
