Leanne Russell, Head of Junior Campus at Emerson School, worked at several schools including both mainstream and specialist settings before Emerson pulled her in and gave her what she calls “a sense of home.”
“I love coming to work every day, and I love that every day is different,” Leanne says. “When I moved into special education after teaching at a mainstream secondary college, I knew it was the right place for me, and once I started at Emerson, I knew I had found my place.”
Leanne holds a dual role at Emerson, working as Head of Placements in addition to her role as Head of Junior School.
In the Placements role, Leanne manages and coordinates all university, TAFE and student work experience placements across the school. She loves meeting the students on placement and seeing them thrive in the environment.
In her role as Junior School Head, Leanne oversees 12 classroom teachers, 13 education support staff and 112 students.
“I’m delighted that one of the volunteer education support staff I oversee, Tori, used to be one of my students here at Emerson. There’s a lovely sense of synergy in that cycle of moving from being a student into a staffing role.”
When asked what makes Emerson so special, Leanne says everyone at the school is made to feel valued, with a positive culture built around flexibility and caring.
She cites an example from when she first started at the school in 1999 as a casual relief teacher, when her daughter was only two years old and she often struggled to find a babysitter. She was told to bring her daughter in with her, so she would do that on occasion, and she appreciated the sense of being welcomed into the Emerson “family.”
Leanne soon moved from CRT work into part-time classroom teaching in Junior School, before supporting the Head of Junior School. Then, as her children grew older, she transferred to full-time work. She has been in her current position for the past nine years.
“Emerson not only supports, but actively encourages, staff asking for help if it is needed,” she says. “A special education setting can often be challenging, and it is vital that you feel supported in your role and that you can reach out if you need to.”
Outside work, Leanne is kept busy with three now-adult children and four grandchildren, the latter ranging in age from four years old down to eight weeks old.
She is a Melbourne Cricket Club member and loves Carlton, a team in the AFL, heading to football games whenever she can.
She also loves travelling, and while she has travelled with others in the past to places as varied as the Maldives, Europe and Hamilton Island in Australia, she has just returned from her first ever solo trip in August this year. She visited New York and was thrilled to tick off a bucket list destination—and do it on her own.
“No matter how far or wide I travel, though, it is always good to come back to a workplace that genuinely feels like home,” Leanne says.
[interviewed May 2026 / updated Sep 2026]
Photo credit: travel photos in this article supplied by Leanne Russell
