Our People
30 July, 2025
Dynamic duo takes the reins
IN a story that has shades of The Karate Kid about it, Halls Gap Primary School has made an exciting, unconventional appointment, confirming this week it will be led by co-principals.
Really, The Karate Kid? You know, the wise sensei Mr Miyagi taking his protégé Daniel-san under his wing, imparting his wisdom so one day Daniel himself will become a wise sensei, that’s basically the plan at Halls Gap, with co-principals Sam Stoffel and Jess McCosh thrilled to be working closely together.
“I’m kind of reaching the end of my career, so I’d considered taking a step back, but it was really also an opportunity because Jess and I had worked together for a long period of time prior to this, as I mentored Jess when she started working in this region,” said Ms Stoffel.
“We both really strongly believe in small school and rural school education, and it was an opportunity for me to share my knowledge with Jess, to learn from me, and hopefully it’ll be a long-term succession plan for the school.”
Ms Stoffel taught at Halls Gap Primary School for approximately 15 years before taking on a role guiding the next generation of Victorian schoolteachers.
“For the past four years I’ve been working for the Department of Education, at the Career Start program which was a pilot program to support and mentor graduate teachers,” she said.
The close bond between Halls Gap’s new co-principals began when Ms McCosh moved to the region to teach.
“I arrived in Stawell in 2011, that’s when Sam started mentoring me,” said Ms McCosh,
“I was at Concongella for two years, and I was at Ararat Primary School 800 since then.”
Ms McCosh said she’s had the ambition to become a school principal for a while, however it had been more of a long-term goal.
“I’ve got two young kids so I didn’t think I’d be doing it until they were out of primary school,” she said.
“I was assistant principal at 800 but then Sam and I spoke about this, and I thought, yep, I need to do this, Sam is my person to do this with.”
The pair of passionate teachers are excited for the opportunity to work so closely together, with Ms McCosh expressing gratitude for the opportunity and describing why she felt so confident to put her hand up to take on the role.
“It takes a very special combo to work together, and we are very aligned with all our practices and knowledge,” she said.
Ms Stoffel echoed her colleague’s sentiments, explaining how in-sync the pair are.
“Pedagogically, philosophically, on education we’re very well aligned, and we couldn’t do it if we weren’t,” Ms Stoffel said.
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