About Our Principal

Shauna Colnan has had a distinguished career in leading roles in some of Sydney’s most preeminent  independent schools. 

Before becoming the Principal at International Grammar School, Shauna was Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School at MLC School and before that, Head of Curriculum at Abbotsleigh. For 16 years Shauna worked at Barker College and led one of the nation’s largest English Departments. She began her teaching career at Ravenswood School for Girls.

In 2016 Shauna became a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Shauna’s capacity as an educational leader has been enhanced by academic studies at the University of Sydney, the University of New England, Harvard University and New York University where she studied Cinema. 

Shauna holds graduate and postgraduate qualifications in business administration, the arts and education, has a special interest in Shakespearean scholarship and performance, and was awarded the John Bell and Joyce Williams Prize in Shakespeare Studies from the University of Sydney.

In 2006, in a competitive global cohort, Shauna was awarded highest academic achiever in the MBA at the Graduate School of Business at UNE. 

Shauna is a passionate teacher and a curriculum expert. She has worked at the NSW Board of Studies (now NESA) and in 2010 was seconded to the national project unit, a strategic team within NESA that shaped the NSW response to the emerging national curriculum.

Shauna was NSW supervisor of HSC English marking and served on the examination committee setting the HSC English exams for over a decade. 

Shauna’s career has also seen her educating those who aspire to teach through the Teacher Education Program at Macquarie University.

Shauna attended the Think Tank on Global Education at Harvard University and believes that the key role of schools today is to equip students to be ready for the world.