A small school. A big national recognition. And an achievement that belongs to every member of our team.
We are incredibly proud to announce that Allegra School Coffs Harbour has been named the #1 Best Workplace in Australia in the Micro category in the 2026 Great Place to Work Australia Best Workplaces™ List.
Yes. Number one in Australia.
For a small, regional school in Coffs Harbour, this is an extraordinary recognition. But what makes this particular award so meaningful to us is not simply the ranking. It is how that ranking was decided.
Our people made this possible
The Best Workplaces™ rankings are based predominantly on confidential feedback from employees through Great Place to Work’s Trust Index™ Survey.
This year, the survey captured the experiences of more than 128,000 employees across Australia, with hundreds of organisations considered and only 100 workplaces ultimately making the national list.
The assessment looks deeply at the experience of people within an organisation – including credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie.
So, while being named Australia’s #1 Micro Workplace is wonderful, the part that matters most to us is what sits behind it:
Our people told us that Allegra is a great place to work.
That means an enormous amount.
Culture isn’t something written on a wall
At Allegra, we talk a lot about culture.
Not culture as a collection of statements, posters or policies, but culture as the hundreds of small things that happen between people every day.
It is how we speak to each other when things are difficult.
It is whether people feel trusted to use their professional judgement.
It is whether ideas are welcomed.
It is whether people feel safe enough to ask for help, challenge thinking, try something different or admit when something hasn’t worked.
It is celebrating each other’s successes, sharing the load on hard days and knowing that the people around you genuinely want you to succeed.
And importantly, culture is not something created by one person or one leadership team.
It is something every person at Allegra contributes to, builds and protects.
That is why this recognition belongs to our entire team.
Great workplaces matter in great schools
There is also a bigger reason this recognition matters to us.
Our work at Allegra is centred on young people who have often experienced barriers to learning or who have struggled to find a place where school feels like it fits.
We ask our staff to create classrooms built on acceptance, connection and collaboration. We ask them to notice the individual, build trusting relationships, think differently, respond creatively and create learning experiences where students can experience genuine success.
For staff to create that kind of environment for students, we believe they need to experience it themselves.
You cannot sustainably build belonging for students in a workplace where adults do not feel that they belong.
You cannot ask educators to be innovative if they are afraid to take risks.
You cannot expect people to bring patience, creativity and energy to young people if the systems around them consistently deplete those things.
And you cannot build a truly relational school without investing just as deliberately in the relationships between the adults within it.
That connection between staff experience and student experience is something we care deeply about.
Small doesn’t mean insignificant
Allegra was ranked in the Micro category, representing organisations with between 10 and 29 employees.
We love that.
Because while we may be a small organisation, we have never believed that the size of a school should determine the size of its ambition or its impact.
There are enormous strengths in being small.
We know each other. We can move quickly. We can challenge traditional ways of doing things. We can build systems around the people actually using them. We can notice when someone needs support. And we can create an environment where individual people genuinely influence the organisation they are part of.
To see a small regional school from Coffs Harbour sitting at #1 in Australia alongside some of the country’s most successful workplaces is something our whole community can be incredibly proud of.
This one belongs to the team
There have been plenty of reasons to celebrate at Allegra this year, but this recognition feels particularly special because it reflects something collective.
Every conversation.
Every classroom.
Every idea someone has been brave enough to suggest.
Every colleague who has stepped in when someone needed help.
Every laugh in the staffroom.
Every difficult conversation handled with care.
Every person who has challenged us to do something better.
Every member of our team has played a part in creating this workplace.
Awards give us an opportunity to stop for a moment and recognise what has been built. But the real achievement is not the trophy or the number beside our name.
It is walking into Allegra each day and continuing to create a place where people feel trusted, valued, connected and able to do work that matters.
We have always been proud of the culture at Allegra.
It is incredibly special to now be able to say that our little school in Coffs Harbour has been recognised as the #1 Best Workplace in Australia in its category for 2026.
To every member of the Allegra team – this one is yours.
Congratulations, Allegra.
