Welcome from the Head of School
Welcome to Canberra Grammar School. A website can give only a glimpse of our community, so – whether you are new to the School or already know us – you are warmly invited to visit us in person to see how our boys and girls are learning.
We are blessed at Canberra Grammar School with a large and beautiful campus, fine facilities, and excellent teachers. Our history is rich in academic, sporting and artistic achievement, and we are fortunate to be in the heart of Australia’s capital, surrounded by the great intellectual, cultural and political institutions of our nation. However, the true indication of a school’s quality is not in its environment or its past but in how well its students learn to become curious, creative, confident and compassionate citizens of the world.
Our students are our greatest ambassadors. Speak to them and they will tell you far more than I or this website can about what makes Canberra Grammar School special.
That is our aspiration, and our students are the evidence of its attainment. They are our greatest ambassadors. Speak to them and they will tell you far more than I or this website can about what makes Canberra Grammar School special.
They present themselves with an engaging mixture of openness, sincerity and passion. Be it in classrooms, in orchestras, on stage, on the sporting field or in Chapel, they are enthusiastic and determined; they care for each other and they aspire to the highest standards in education.
I am proud of them and I invite you to visit us and to meet our young men and women in person.
Welcome once again.
Dr Justin Garrick
Head of School
ABOUT THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
Dr Justin Garrick became Head of Canberra Grammar School in 2011. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and Sydney University. He also has a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New England. He undertook his PhD with a Cambridge Australia Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and he has an MBA from the University of London.
He has taught at Sydney Grammar School, St Paul’s School in London, Oundle School and Wellington College UK, where he was Head of English and then Deputy (Academic) prior to joining Canberra Grammar School. He is Chair of the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT, a past Board member of the Association of Independent Schools of NSW and a member of the Advisory Council for the and AISNSW Leadership Centre.
At Canberra Grammar School he has led the School’s transition to full co-education as well as the introduction of the International Baccalaureate at Primary and Senior levels, bringing an explicitly global perspective to the School’s curriculum and co-curricular experience. He has also relaunched the CGS Foundation and overseen the School’s long-term Campus Development Plan.
He is married to Dharini Ganesan Raju and they have two daughters.
