Principal Matthew Beacroft has been named the 2022 Neil Bloxsidge Leadership Award winner at the annual Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) Leadership Dinner on Saturday (5 November).
The Neil Bloxsidge Leadership Award is named in honour of a former colleague who showed exceptional leadership and was a much loved and highly respected member of the BCE community.
The Principal of St Mary of the Cross School Windsor was presented the award by Senior Leaders Mick Kelleher and Dave Cashman, along with Executive Director Dr Sally Towns, and was applauded for demonstrating the qualities of the BCE Leadership Framework and providing outstanding contributions to the development of educational leaders.
BCE Cluster 3 Senior Leader David Cashman called Matthew an outstanding leader who is very deserving of the award.
“Matthew exemplifies qualities of instructional leadership, commitment, and genuine compassion in all he does as Principal," he said.
“His leadership of St Mary of the Cross School community is highly regarded by all, and I applaud him for his effective use of his entrepreneurial skills to deliver many varied educational opportunities for his students.
“Matthew is also a transformative and passionate school leader who engages in big picture dreaming and is persistent in his direction setting and vision for the school.
“He is to be congratulated for his commitment to connecting Brisbane Catholic Education with the wider community and for never seeing a need without doing something about it."
Matthew Beacroft said he feels honoured to win this award in honour of Neil Bloxsidge, who had a large impact on the BCE community.
“It means so much to me to win this award,” he said.
“I only met Neil briefly but was lucky enough to hear him speak at a few leadership events and something I took from Neil was that he placed importance on servant leadership and working for your team.
“Neil’s death impacted the whole BCE community, so it’s a great honour to win an award, which is in honour of someone who was held in such high regard by all.
“I would like to thank my school community for their unwavering support, and my wife Sarah, who has supported our family and allowed me to have a positive impact in the role.
“I would also like to thank all the people I have worked with within BCE over the last 25 years who have supported me and had faith in me as a leader.
“Lastly, thank you to my Senior Leader, Dave Cashman for being a great leader and support over the years.”
Neil passed away suddenly in 2010. At the time, he was the Director of School Service Centre South. As well as an exceptional leader, he was a much-loved figure in Catholic Education. He was also a natural born leader, deeply committed, very genuine and very personable with a wicked sense of humour. He was always an accomplished professional.
You only needed to spend a very short time with Neil to know that his leadership style was inspiring, it was built on relationships and trust and above all, he empowered and built trust in people. His sometimes relaxed and natural style masked a person with great inner strength, focus and strategic ability. The people who have received the Neil Bloxsidge Leadership Award also show these great leadership traits.