Phillip O'Carroll

Philip O'Carroll, with his wife Faye Berryman, founded an alternative primary school in 1976. Fitzroy Community School, still going strong, is now run by their former first pupil, their oldest son Timothy Berryman. The school has gained public recognition in recent years for its extraordinary achievements in the NAPLAN.

These outcomes are as much a surprise to the founders as to anyone else. The school was founded to sustain the child’s spirits throughout the primary years. The school costs no more to operate than a state school, spends less time in class, does not select children for enrolment, and includes all children in the tests.