Jane Bovill

Awarded for service to education and training

Born: 15 June 1958

Entered on roll: 2023

"Inspiring a love of learning"

Jane Bovill is an award-winning and innovative educator with an exceptional capacity to transfer theory into practice to improve learning outcomes for students. Increasing literacy levels and improving learning and social outcomes has been the focus of Jane’s teaching career of over 40 years.

Jane was first appointed to a Principal position at Waverley Primary School in 2002. Under Jane’s leadership, the school became a forerunner to the Launching into Learning initiative and won a national improvement award for improvements in education outcomes.

During her 20-year career as a Principal, Jane has received numerous awards, including the Tasmanian Principal of the Year Award 2012 in the early years and schools’ category, and the National Excellence in Teaching Award for community education (2004).

In 2005 Jane was awarded the Tasmanian Government’s Westfield Premier’s Education Scholarship and studied in the United States and Germany, focusing on building the social responsibility of young students and the wider community.

In 2008, Jane was awarded an opportunity to attend a summer school at Lesley University in the United States to build capacity as an instructional leader in literacy. Jane brought these valuable international learnings back to Tasmania to share with colleagues and benefit students.

When Jane was in a variety of school leadership roles in Launceston, she volunteered as State Director and Northern President of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association and organised conferences and events for the professional development of teachers. Jane has also supported her colleagues as a representative on the Principal Advisory Group and was a facilitator of the Thrive Principal Induction Program.

During the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Jane worked with her school team to initiate a process enabling families to support their children’s learning by organising a drive-through service where parents could pick up resources. This was a mammoth task for Tasmania’s largest primary school.

In 2021, Jane was selected as an expert member of the Tasmanian Government’s Literacy Advisory Panel which aims to create a community-wide framework to achieve a literate Tasmania.