Sandy Cartwright has been the Principal of Alawa Primary School in Darwin for six years, which is her third opportunity to lead a thriving school community. She was the 2017 NT Principal of the Year, awarded an ACEL Fellowship in 2017 and has worked for over 20 years in the Northern Territory Education system both in schools and corporate. Sandy has chaired the NT Department Principals Reference Group for Performance, Evidence and System Improvement 2015-18 and is currently the Chair of the Education Reference group for Improvement Systems, Accountability and Evidence.