“We have appreciated Stephen’s expertise and perspectives in taking a customized look at our school and community and helping us formulate plans to build our school’s reputation in the most effective ways. He listens well, has broad experience, and knows what he is doing—a real benefit for us.”

“We were so fortunate this week to have Dr. Stephen Holmes spend a day at our school with our staff and share research and his expertise related to marketing our schools reputation.”

“This year I have been extremely fortunate to engage Dr Stephen Holmes and his services on several occasions in assisting our primary school in building a strong reputation plan. Firstly, he worked with my school within a cluster setting and then later this year, Stephen presented at our school with an innovative and personalised workshop. I am impressed with the way Stephens’ services are based on current research and his professionalism is evident at all times. Feedback from staff and parents has acknowledged the way he breaks down his content into practical and effective steps. As a first time Principal this year, I have appreciated the way he has also made himself available as a mentor whereby he is always happy to reply to an email in between sessions when I have asked for ideas, feedback or professional reading.”

“I spent an excellent two days with Dr Stephen Holmes. I felt that I was back in a business/ marketing studies classroom, but with the benefit of all content being relevant to my role in my school. I would recommend Stephen to anyone in a senior school marketing role.”

“We engaged Dr Stephen Holmes to guide us through a process of renewing our core statements and to help the community to speak with one voice about coming to terms with a preferred mission and vision of the school and then the strategic plan. Stephen used a data based that helped us to assure all members of our community that their voices were heard. The analysis of the data was thorough and rigorous and yielded us an excellent starting point from which to derive a new vision, mission and core values for the school.

Stephen engaged voices from across the community including students, parents, teachers, staff, alumni and board members. As an international school in Asia, our community is diverse and Stephen was sensitive and responsive to the many cultural differences he encountered. It was important for our participants to feel heard in this process, and seeing their voices reflected in the data Stephen collected gave them the assurance that allowed them to support the final outcomes of the research.

Stephen took the time and interest to build relationships and trust with many members in our community and that helped considerably by not only being able to mine good data from interviews and focus groups, but also helping us as a community to unpack the information we gathered in ways that created “buy in” amongst out teachers and parents when it came time to agree on final statements.”

“As a first-time Head, I was quickly faced with the need for us to develop sensible performance measures. The Board wanted these to be objective, honest, easy to understand and truly indicative of how well the school is doing. We decided to bring in a consultant to act as an honest broker, finding ways of reconciling the need for accountability with the reality that schools rarely have neat and easily-quantifiable aims. We searched globally for an advisor who would gain the respect of the educators and of the Board and have been very pleased with what Dr Stephen Holmes has done in this regard.”

“Six primary schools of the Yarra Valley and Outer Eastern cluster of Catholic Education in Melbourne have an ongoing relationship with Dr. Stephen Holmes as they develop, refine and implement a strategic approach to building their reputations. This work is ongoing and will continue throughout 2016 and 2017.

Stephen’s work with our schools has been extremely well received and valued by each of the school teams that have attended (inclusive of both staff and key parent leaders). The schools universally have appreciated Stephen’s capacity to engage them with the learning, his own personal style and ability to share his own knowledge and expertise.

I think the real reflection of Stephen’s capacities has been the immediate re- engagement of his services by the Cluster as well as an expansion in the size of the cohort of schools participating.

Stephen’s knowledge, capacity to listen and to engage and facilitate learning are his signature skills and attributes.”

“Dr Stephen Holmes has credentials that place him at the vanguard of modern educational management. His scholarly expertise in processes of educational marketing is unique and his practical, entrepreneurial talent is similarly outstanding.”

“We have been working with Dr Stephen Holmes at NIST International School over the course of several months as we refine our strategic approach both school-wide and specifically in the area of reputation. His expertise has been readily apparent throughout this process, and he has drawn upon a vast range of experience in providing recommendations tailored to our situation.

Beyond his high degree of knowledge, Stephen also has a knack for connecting with people. Every member of our community, whether parent, teacher or alumni, has walked out of meetings with him feeling positive and engaged. In short, Stephen has a unique blend of talents that enable him to offer schools solid insights that contribute to continued growth.”

“One of the first Professional Development sessions I attended as a new member of Educate Plus (ADAPE at that time) was presented by Dr Stephen Holmes. That was 12 years ago and I had just joined the profession of Education Advancement in the position of Director of Marketing & Community Relations at a regional independent school in Queensland.

The innovative and insightful ideas Stephen shared at that session back in 2005 were invaluable to me. They framed the basis for the marketing and promotion of my school for the next 10 years and proved to be very successful in a highly competitive market.

Since that initial session, I have had the benefit of attending subsequent presentations delivered by Dr Stephen Holmes at a number of Educate Plus Chapter and International Conferences. He continues to be creative, relevant and practical in the marketing approaches he espouses. His broad international experience brings a unique perspective to Australian and New Zealand educational institutions and has been very influential in redefining Marketing & Reputation Management best practice in our region.

On behalf of the Educate Plus Australasian Board, I would like to thank Stephen Holmes for the significant contribution he has made, over a number of years, to PD sessions, Chapter Conferences and our flagship International Conferences, including our most recent on the Gold Coast in September 2016.”