Anne Johnstone | Chair International Positive Education Network (IPEN) and Principal Ravenswood School for Girls
Ravenswood School for Girls

Anne Johnstone is Principal of Ravenswood School For Girls in Sydney and Chair of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), the peak global body of wellbeing science-in-education practitioners. She is a founding Board Member of the Positive Education Schools Association (PESA) and has also been appointed as Chair of the Excellence in Leadership and Teaching Council for the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW). Anne is an internationally recognised education leader renowned for her pioneering work in the field of Positive Education and the wellbeing of young people. She began this work in 2004 when she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to explore ways to foster resilience in learning while based at Cambridge University in England. Anne holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) degree, a Graduate Diploma in Education, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, completed under the supervision of Professor Martin Seligman. In 2019, Anne was among five educational leaders acknowledged for her ‘pioneering work, contribution and internationally recognised leadership in the field of Positive Education’ at the Positive Education Global Summit in Philadelphia. In 2022, Anne was awarded the Phyllis Evans Medal by the Teachers’ Guild of NSW, a prize that acknowledges a ‘distinguished educator of great standing’. Anne also received an Excellence Award for Principal of the Year (Non-Government) at the 2022 Australian Education Awards for her pioneering work in the education sector and Positive Education and has been recognised two-years running on The Educator Hot List (2022, 2023). In 2023 she received The Educator Most Influential Educator Award. Under Anne’s leadership, Ravenswood School for Girls has been recognised as The Educator Innovative School of the Year five times in six years since 2018. Anne is currently completing a PhD in education where the focus of her doctoral research in the field of positive psychology is on helping young people to develop a mindset that promotes wellbeing.