Turning Around a Troubled School

A Journey of School Renewal
Peter Hutton

Peter Hutton’s Turning Around a Troubled School offers an honest, grounded journey through a school’s revival. It’s not theory dressed as practice, this is a real story from a real Victorian state school, told by a leader navigating pressure in real time. In the early 2010s, Templestowe College faced closure: enrolments were down to 250, morale was low, and reinvention felt like a long shot. But over the next eight years, the school transformed, with enrolments quadrupling and its model attracting global attention.

Hutton doesn’t present as a hero or expert. He writes with openness, even vulnerability, sharing what didn’t work as plainly as what did. There are no silver bullets here, just people, persistence and a willingness to challenge assumptions baked into the system.

Rather than offering a blueprint, the book unfolds more like a thoughtful walk-through; moving between moments of clarity and uncertainty without ever rushing to a neat conclusion. Hutton’s reflections land with quiet strength. He gives just enough away to stir your own thinking, without claiming to have all the answers.

For educators, aspiring leaders and change-makers in any setting, this is a powerful reminder that real change doesn’t require permission - just purpose, courage and a few good people ready to try. A short read with a long echo, it invites you to rethink what’s possible, not later, but now.

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