Profile
Timothy Barraud arrived at Balmoral State High School and saw enormous potential in the school and its community. Over three years, as principal, he has led a shift in culture from participation and compliance towards student agency, belonging and contribution. “For me, transformation is successful when the culture becomes bigger than the principal.”
Over the past 12 months, Barraud’s focus has been moving engagement away from whether students are simply participating, towards the depth of their cognitive, behavioural and emotional investment in learning.
Barraud drove this through the Engagement Accelerator, drawing on Amy Berry’s Engagement Continuum. “We have translated research into a practical whole-school approach that students and teachers use every day,” he says. Students helped define what authentic engagement looks like through fishbowl conversations and student forums. Their message was consistent: they want clarity, meaningful feedback, appropriate challenge and genuine connection.
Barraud is clear that change of this kind cannot be imposed. He says, “Transformation cannot simply be announced. You must build belief in the direction, create the conditions for people to contribute and then stay the course when progress is sometimes slower than you would like.”
What’s promising for Barraud is watching how teachers respond. “The most rewarding part of the past year has been watching teachers take ownership of an idea, challenge it, improve it and make it their own,” he says.
As principal, Barraud leads by immersing in the learning process himself. He explains, “I believe leaders should be in classrooms, talking to students, working alongside staff and engaging with the community. You cannot transform a school from an office.”
He describes himself as a lead learner who is prepared to change direction when the evidence says he should. His philosophy is to put connection before content, people before processes and purpose before compliance.
Barraud did not set out with a detailed plan to become a principal. He began as a teacher who wanted his influence to reach beyond the classroom and deliberately sought roles that challenged him.
“For me, career progression has never been about the next title. It has been about finding the next challenge where I can make a meaningful difference,” he adds.
For Barraud, leading a school comes with a responsibility to share what works and the impact of this collective responsibility so other educators can be inspired and give themselves permission to strive for improvement. His roles within the Department of Education have strengthened system leadership including, SPARQ-ed and Learning Environments Australasia, and his contributions through Chalk Talk, a podcast series to extend the positive conversation about teacher contribution to school culture.
“Ultimately, I measure influence by what other people do differently because of an idea, not by how many people know my name,” he says.
Barraud describes his place on The Educator’s Hot List for 2026 as humbling, though he does not see it as an individual achievement. “The recognition is nice. The change in culture is what matters.”
What he hopes for next is a sector where student agency is not an aspiration written in a strategic plan, but something students experience and demonstrate every day.
John Paul Drive, Daisy Hill, QLD 4127
(07) 3823 8588
principal@balmoralshs.eq.edu.au
linkedin.com/in/timothy-barraud-b2251131/
balmoralshs.eq.edu.au/our-school/principals-welcome
Timothy Barraud
Principal
Balmoral State High School
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Bio
Milestones
2015
2016
2019
2021
2024–Present
Deputy Principal at Corinda State High School
2015
Deputy Principal at Indooroopilly State High School
2016
Junior School Principal at Indooroopilly State High School
2019
Principal at Yeronga State High School
2021
Principal at Balmoral State High School
2024–Present
Milestones
“I know this seems pretty simple, but [my philosophy] is always doing what’s right for clients and not what is best for me”
Collin Bruce,
Dominion Lending Centres
“I had to crawl my way out of debt and build up my mortgage business. I never forget that feeling, and I try to never take a new lead for granted. Every deal counts”
Collin Bruce,
Dominion Lending Centres
The professional philosophy that underpins all of it is strikingly basic – and Bruce knows it. “I know this seems pretty simple,” he says, “but always doing what’s right for clients and not what is best for me. I never have to worry about something coming back to me from a previous client.”
He has helped clients through years-long credit rehabilitation without earning a cent along the way. He has never placed a client in a product he wasn’t prepared to fully stand behind. The result is a practice built on trust generating its own momentum: repeat business and referrals that arrive without prompting, from clients who know the difference between a broker who serves them and one who services a transaction.
In Alberta, where Bruce has built a particularly strong market presence, his name is amplified by a heavy advertising campaign across television and radio – channels he values not simply for reach but for credibility. The ads, he notes, help legitimize him in a market where clients are choosing who to trust with some of the largest financial decisions of their lives. Alongside that visibility, he has cultivated deep relationships with builders and financial planners, creating a diversified pipeline of leads that insulates the business against the inevitable swings of the rate cycle.
The operational side of the business has evolved with equal deliberateness. The appointment of a dedicated ‘Director of Wow’ – a role conceived to ensure every client interaction exceeds expectation – and the adoption of Dominion Lending Centres’ Gold Rush CRM platform have together driven a meaningful uplift in repeat client business over the past year.
The present year of 2026 brings its own complexities. With clients emerging from a period of historically low rates and confronting sharply higher mortgage costs, Bruce has tilted his focus toward refinancing – helping existing borrowers navigate a transition that, for many, has been genuinely painful. He is also investing in AI tools to sharpen lead generation and streamline internal processes, a measured embrace of technology from someone who has never confused efficiency with the thing it is meant to serve.