Government schools
Department of Education and Training principals, deputies, and heads of school across every state.
For school leaders
Human-centred leadership coaching for Principals.
For Principals who want to lead their people well, but feel like they are not doing any of it well right now.
Trusted by Principals across Australia and internationally
TEDx Burleigh Heads ED
Why school leaderscan't see clearly.
Who Well-Nest is for
Principals, deputies,and the teams they lead.
We work with school leaders across Australian sectors and across international schools. The work extends to the leadership teams they lead.
Catholic schools
Diocesan principals and Catholic Education leadership teams, including system-funded engagements across all archdioceses.
Independent schools
AHISA Heads of School and senior leadership teams across Anglican, Lutheran, Uniting, Jewish, Islamic, and secular independent schools, in Australia and internationally.
Roles we work with
- Principals
- Deputy Principals
- Heads of School
- Assistant Principals
- Senior Leadership Teams
- Aspiring Principals
Across Australia and internationally. From first-year principals to tenure-end leaders mapping their next move.
What we offer
Four ways we workwith Principals and their teams.
Each path is shaped around what you are actually carrying right now.
Executive Coaching
A confidential, judgment-free thinking space. The board meeting that cannot wait until we speak again.
Explore coachingLeadership Retreats
One, two, or three-day residentials for executive teams. Deep prep before. Implementation support after. Real conversations, not whiteboards and good intentions.
Explore retreatsExecutive Workshops
Half-day, full-day, or term-long series for leadership teams or association cohorts. Four signature topics, or built around what your team is carrying right now.
Explore workshopsKeynote Speaking
Three signature keynotes for school leadership conferences, sector events, and association gatherings. Built from sixteen years inside the work.
Explore keynotesA note from Aimee
If you are reading this after a really long, hard day,this was written for you.
Dear Principal,
There are about 47 things on your desk right now that are more urgent than this page. Let me tell you in the next sixty seconds whether this is worth your time.
Here is what we think is going on for you.
You love the job. You became a Principal to have the greatest possible positive impact on your school community. On the kids. On the staff. On teaching and learning. You still feel that pull, every single day.
Somewhere along the way though, the job changed. Leading people has become the dominant part of being a Principal, more than it has ever been before. The list never gets shorter. Your team turns to you for the answer, and some days you do not have one.
- Most evenings, you are answering emails at 10pm.
- Most weekends, you are still working.
- Most staff meetings, it feels like you are either letting staff down or frustrating them.
- Most days, you leave the building quietly certain you did not do any of it well.
That is not a resilience problem. That is not a self-care problem. That is a Principal who wants to lead their people well, sitting in a job that has not given them the space or support to do it.
If even one of those lines made you feel seen, keep reading.
We see you, and we hear you. We are here when you are ready.
Aimee Presnall
Founder of Well-Nest
Founder of Well-Nest. Former teacher and school leader. TEDx speaker.
The Well-Nest Impact Framework
The work,in three layers.
- You
Self Clarity
The thinking space you never get during the school day.
You leave each session with the real crux named, and the next move decided. You stop carrying the same question around in your head for weeks.
- Your team
Team Conditions
The conditions that make sustainable leadership possible.
Rhythms. Decision rights. Meeting architecture. The quiet stuff that changes everything about how your executive team actually leads together.
- Your team
Collective Culture
A team culture that holds when you are not in the room.
We help you shape the team culture that keeps the staff you want to keep, and sets the tone for the next generation of leaders coming through.
What nobody is saying out loud
You are not the problem.The conditions you are leading in are.
47.8% of Australian principals are triggering red-flag mental-health alerts. 54.4% are considering leaving the profession. The job is not breaking you because you are weak. It is breaking you because the job has changed, and the support around it has not.
Australian Catholic University, Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2025.
If even one of those lines made you feel seen, the next move is a thirty-minute conversation.
What Principals say
What Principals saywhen the work is landing.
I was on the verge of walking away from a job I genuinely loved. I truly believe that without Aimee's insightful coaching, I would not still be in this role or have the optimistic outlook I now hold for myself, my colleagues, and my school community.
Rachael Courteney
Principal
Noarlunga Downs Primary School
Aimee provided practical tools and strategies that I could immediately apply in my role, making a tangible difference in my day-to-day leadership. She regularly checked in with me, which made me feel valued, while also keeping me accountable to my goals.
Jason
Principal
St Anthony's Catholic Primary
Her dedication to the preparation based upon our particular needs was outstanding. During the retreat Aimee adapted the direction based upon the important, emerging priorities, which indicates her flexibility and her deep listening and engagement with us as individuals and the team as a whole.
John Visentin
Principal
John Paul College, Frankston VIC
Coaching provides me with a structured time of reflection. Aimee's listening, prompting questions and considered guidance enable me to work through issues and ideas that I am grappling with. I greatly appreciate her emphasis on both wellbeing and leadership.
Kaye
Head of Junior School
Rouse Hill Anglican College
The coaching experience invited me to say out aloud what I wanted to work on, giving this goal intentional space in my day to day. Aimee is one of the best coaches I have had the privilege of working with.
Julia
Deputy Principal
MacGregor State School, QLD
It has helped develop my career path, made me see obstacles in a new way, and gave me the professional organisation that I needed. Although my sessions are complete, I know I will continue to use this coaching team as I find the advice invaluable.
Kate
Head of Primary School
United Kingdom
I was on the verge of walking away from a job I genuinely loved. I truly believe that without Aimee's insightful coaching, I would not still be in this role or have the optimistic outlook I now hold for myself, my colleagues, and my school community.
Rachael Courteney
Principal
Noarlunga Downs Primary School
Aimee provided practical tools and strategies that I could immediately apply in my role, making a tangible difference in my day-to-day leadership. She regularly checked in with me, which made me feel valued, while also keeping me accountable to my goals.
Jason
Principal
St Anthony's Catholic Primary
Her dedication to the preparation based upon our particular needs was outstanding. During the retreat Aimee adapted the direction based upon the important, emerging priorities, which indicates her flexibility and her deep listening and engagement with us as individuals and the team as a whole.
John Visentin
Principal
John Paul College, Frankston VIC
Coaching provides me with a structured time of reflection. Aimee's listening, prompting questions and considered guidance enable me to work through issues and ideas that I am grappling with. I greatly appreciate her emphasis on both wellbeing and leadership.
Kaye
Head of Junior School
Rouse Hill Anglican College
The coaching experience invited me to say out aloud what I wanted to work on, giving this goal intentional space in my day to day. Aimee is one of the best coaches I have had the privilege of working with.
Julia
Deputy Principal
MacGregor State School, QLD
It has helped develop my career path, made me see obstacles in a new way, and gave me the professional organisation that I needed. Although my sessions are complete, I know I will continue to use this coaching team as I find the advice invaluable.
Kate
Head of Primary School
United Kingdom
What you will start to notice
What other Principals have noticed.Once the work began to land.
We do not promise outcomes we cannot stand behind. These are the shifts the Principals we have worked with consistently report once the work is underway.
The thing that used to wake you at 3am stops waking you. Not because it has gone away, but because you know what your next move is.
The next data drop lands. You read it without your stomach dropping. You know what it tells you and what to do next.
You stop wondering if you are cut out for this. The question becomes how you want to do it, not whether you can.
Your family gets you back in the evenings. Not the version of you still in the staff meeting at 7pm. The actual you.
Your relationship with your executive team stops being something you are constantly managing. All of you are running the school together, not around each other.
The 9pm email lands. You do not open it until the morning. You have set the boundary that nothing you can do at 9pm helps anyone, least of all you.
The work is not louder. It is quieter. Sundays start to feel like Sundays again.
How working together starts
From first conversationto ongoing partnership.
The same path whether the work is coaching, a retreat, a workshop, or a keynote.
Book a clarity call
An honest, thirty-minute, no-obligation conversation about what is actually going on for you, what you have already tried, and whether this is the right next move right now.
Shape the engagement
If the call confirms it is a fit, we scope the work around your term, your week, and what the work actually needs to look like. Whether that is one-to-one coaching, a leadership retreat, a workshop series, or a keynote, the shape comes from your needs.
Begin the partnership
The work begins. Whether that is regular thinking sessions for the principal, a retreat for the executive team, or a workshop series for the leadership group, the partnership is shaped around what your school actually needs. We stay alongside you for the whole engagement, not only the scheduled time.
Thirty minutes. No obligation. A real conversation about where you are at.
The person on the other end of the call
Sixteen years in schools. She built what was missing.
Aimee Presnall founded Well-Nest after sixteen-plus years inside classrooms and school leadership across Australia and internationally. Masters of Educational Leadership. TEDx speaker. Host of Reflections of School Leaders. Coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker for the people shaping schools today.
- Masters of Educational Leadership
- 16+ years inside classrooms and school leadership
- Workplace Wellbeing Accredited Practitioner
- TEDx Burleigh Heads ED 2026
The podcast
Reflections of School Leaders.
Honest, meaningful conversations with Principals, deputies, and assistant principals from around the world. About being real, not being perfect.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on SpotifyCommon questions
The questions Principals askbefore booking the call.
- Who do you work with, exactly?
- Principals, Deputy Principals, Heads of School, and senior leadership teams in K-12 schools, plus the associations and dioceses that support them. Government, Catholic, and independent. Australia primarily, internationally where the work fits.
- What does an engagement look like?
- It depends. Every engagement is shaped around what the leader and the school actually need. Some are one-to-one coaching. Some are retreats. Some are whole-team work. The shape follows the conversation.
- Can my school pay for this?
- The majority of clients use their professional development budget to pay for these services. We also offer payment plans for leaders who would prefer to pay personally.
- What if I do not want my school to know?
- Many Principals work with us privately, out of pocket. Everything is confidential. The point is the partnership, not who is paying for it.
- How is this different from leadership coaching I have tried before?
- Most coaching gives you a great conversation and leaves you to do the implementation alone. We stay alongside the work. The shift rarely happens in the session. It happens on Monday morning.
- When is the right time to start?
- Most Principals book the call on a day that is already too full, not when the calendar is clear. The right time is when you have stopped pretending the current pace is sustainable. That is also the hardest time to make the call. Make it anyway.
- What if it is not the right fit?
- The clarity call exists for exactly that reason. We tell you honestly. If it is not a fit, we will name it on the call, and where useful we will point you toward someone or something that is. There is no follow-up sequence.
- Can I bring my Deputy or executive team into the work?
- Often, yes. Many engagements that begin as one-to-one coaching for a Principal extend to executive team facilitation, leadership retreats, or workshops for the broader senior leadership team. The shape comes from what your school actually needs.
Who this is for. Who it is not.
Not a fit for every Principal.On purpose.
The work is direct. We name what is actually happening, in the conditions you are actually leading in. That is what makes it useful. It is also what makes it the wrong fit for some Principals, and we would rather both of us know that before the call than three sessions in.
This is for you if
- You are a Principal, Deputy, or senior leader in a government, Catholic, independent, or international school
- You want to lead your people well, and right now you feel like you are not doing any of it well
- You have the ambition to keep growing as a leader, and you are willing to do the work that takes
- You are tired of leadership development built by people who have never held the job
- You are willing to look honestly at the conditions, not just the mindset
- You want someone in your corner who has sat inside the work
This is not for you if
- You are looking for a quick fix, because this is not that
- You are looking for a one-off motivational talk
- You want a coach who will agree with everything you say
- You want to change your mindset without changing the conditions
- You want to feel better without doing anything different
If you have read this far
You do not need it sortedbefore you start.
Most of the Principals who work with us first reached out on a day that was already too full. They did not have a neat brief, they did not know exactly what they wanted, and they certainly did not have anything rehearsed ready to say. What they had was a feeling that something was going to have to shift, and a thirty-minute window to find out if this was the thing that might help them shift it.
That is the whole first step. A thirty-minute clarity call where the two of you talk honestly about what is actually going on for you, what you have already tried, and whether this is the right next move for you right now.
Thirty minutes. No obligation. A real conversation about where you are at.
P.S. The Principals who last the longest in this job are the ones who stop trying to do it alone, and build the thinking space into their week rather than waiting for the system to give it to them. The clarity call is the lowest-friction way to find out if this is your next move.
P.P.S. If you are reading this after a really long, hard day with a cold cup of tea and a half-written email, this page was written for you. Book the call in the morning when the house is quiet. It will take you ninety seconds.