Barker is a community, and our mission is not only to care for the students, but also to care for and invest in our parents.

The Parent Institute is a new initiative providing space for parents to come together and support each other in this noble task that they have been entrusted with.

The Parent Institute launched in February 2025 with a keynote presentation from Dr Jenny Brown. Dr Brown has over 35 years of clinical experience in child, couple, and family health, has authored multiple books, and founded the Family Systems Institute in 2004.

Dr Brown presented an overview of the ebbs and flows of parenting advice over the last 150 years and demonstrated the problem of parents outsourcing their decision making to ever-changing recommendations. Her consistent message was that parents best serve their children when they are attuned to their own values – that as they become responsible for their own lives, they support children to develop responsibility, independence and maturity of their own.

Questions on the night reflected humility, maturity, love, and care from parents as they wrestled with Jenny’s challenges. Parents were moved to look beyond quick fixes and start playing the long game where they seek to be confident individuals, by being balanced, steady leaders.

Dr Jenny Brown presenting at the Parent Institute launch, 2025

All are now invited to our upcoming four-week “Confident Parent Course” where parents from Barker and the wider community meet to explore and reflect on their actions in the family. Following guided instructions from the course material developed by Dr Jenny Brown, the groups will have the chance to share their experiences and consider how to become steady, loving leaders in their families; to develop agency and self-efficacy and create an environment to nurture resilience in their children

Complementing our in-school program for the students, there are various Parent Institute events organised for evenings this year on topics ranging from character development, to online safety, to working through tech-enabled addictions (e.g. gaming or gambling). We look forward to connecting with you soon.

Missed the event?

- Listen to the podcast

- Watch the recording

- Sign up for the "Confident Parent Course"

Dr Matthew Hill

Dr Matthew Hill is the Director of The Barker Institute with a focus on professional learning, research, and innovation in the school.  He teaches Physics and the new Science Extension course at the School which introduces students to scientific academic research. Matthew's doctorate reflects his passion for science education focussing on Representational Fluency amongst physics students at school and university. He has published in leadership, education, and science journals and been involved in course development and teaching at The University of Sydney and The University of Western Sydney. He has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Divinity at Ridley College in Melbourne.

Lisa Chalmers

Lisa Chalmers is the Director of Health & Wellbeing at Barker College. Lisa holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing). Lisa has previously worked at the United World College of SEA in Singapore as Matron/Assistant House Parent (Boarding) and has fulfilled both nursing and public health roles in Dublin, Fiji and Melbourne. Lisa has lived in Sydney since 2008 working at NCIRS in vaccine research, UNSW (Lowy) in brain tumour research and co-ordinating a rare disease project across Australia. Lisa has been working at Barker since 2017 and loves her diverse role in caring for both the acute health care needs of our students but also educating and empowering them to carry lifelong good health care and wellbeing behaviours into their lives beyond the Mint Gates.