Reflection on journey to principalship and term 1 for NZEALS article (full)

It’s been a long journey for myself towards principalship but the one common theme has been taking opportunities when offered. My first school, a large, low socio-economic high school in Manchester, UK, gave me as many opportunities as I wanted to take. This included being offered the Teacher in Charge of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) from my first day as well as being the team leader in charge of Health policies. When the opportunity arose for me to apply for Health Advisory teacher positions I jumped at them, being offered the Drug and Alcohol Education Consultant. This role gave me lots of opportunities to lead teams, manage large budgets, write policies, run lots of professional learning and so on.




I decided to go back into the classroom when one of my colleagues asked me about my future plans and mentioned that if I stayed out for too long then that might hinder me getting higher leadership roles. I decided to look for a HOD position back in a school and serendipitously one came up within a few weeks. While in this job, which to be honest I really didn't like, I started the introductory section of NPQH (National Professional Qualification for Headship) as I could see it as supporting my leadership.




My husband and I and our 2 daughters (3 and 5) left Manchester and returned to New Zealand where I had finished my schooling and my family lived. Here I was offered an associate teaching position at Te Aroha College which was definitely a step backwards career wise but I need to get my “NZ experience”. Again, I took every opportunity I could. This included being a Dean for 5 years andTeacher in Charge; I covered maternity leave for our Guidance Counsellor for a term and the DP position for a term; I was acting AP, actual AP and then DP. During this time I completed the Aspiring Principals course, my Masters in Educational Leadership and got over half way through my doctorate. My Masters at Waikato was especially useful and really helped to shape my thinking on a wide range of educational issues. There were also practical skills sections, which were steeped in theory (in my opinion the best kind of courses) such as the Coaching and Mentoring paper, that I still use every day!




I had been looking for other senior positions in the local area as we wanted our daughters to carry on at the same high school. This was of course limiting and I needed to find places where I wanted to go but who also wanted me. No easy feat - well actually it didn’t happen! So working towards my doctorate and joining national committees (PPTA ICT committee and the MOE Te Rito’s working party) was a way to pique my interest in big picture educational issues while being at one school.




When both of our daughters were planning to leave home, one to university and one on Rotary Exchange, I could begin to seriously look for a principal position outside of our area. I wanted to go to a school which aligned with my values; somewhere who welcomed and was successful for all rangatahi in the community and where equity and excellence went hand in hand. This school was Greymouth High School. The ad in the Gazette called to me as I believed that I could match what the school was looking for. I also was also impressed in the advert by their honesty about Greymouth having had challenges in the past, the support they offered for the principal and their humour. I also liked the kaupapa Māori class, the large and exciting Trades opportunities, the Military Service Academy, the large assisted learning department and we led the AE. This school was putting its money where its mouth was and was supporting all students to be successful.




I was fortunate enough to be offered an interview and even though there were some challenges getting down there I can honestly say that I enjoyed the whole day. I got to meet some parents who showed me around the town, the senior leadership team, the current principal who gave me a tour of the school and obviously the board. During the interview, although there were some very tricky questions, I laughed a lot which is a good sign for me!




I’ve now completed a term and in general it has been great! There have been, of course, some “day to day challenges” pretty much the same as the ones as at previous schools: including students not behaving in the ways we want them to, HR issues, Covid level changes, a tsunami warning where of course our students were at the beach, and more significantly a student dying in a car accident. However, for all of the tough times we (our students, staff and myself) have had to deal with there have been lots and lots more positives for me. And one of the positives has been growing supportive teams around me and I really appreciate and thank the staff who have been part of these teams.




Our rangatahi are down to earth, funny and respectful people who come from all walks of life. Obviously we all have our days but this is how I see them. Our staff want the best for all of our students and I see that our job is to work with our young people and their whānau to support each student to succeed in their own way.




Our staff have been welcoming and are very dedicated, passionate and hard working. In the last week of term during our staff meeting the hour was up and they were all still busy talking and yes talking about the topic! I see my role as growing the good and working at those learning edges we all need to develop.




Having a supportive board has been fantastic and this included being asked to go to the NZSTA conference with 5 of them. This was a great experience not only because of all the learning I did but also because of the opportunity to continue to build positive, respectful relationships with our board members.




Of course there are areas that I already know we need to work on. However, this term, for the most part, I have spent listening and learning. I met with all of our teachers one on one to start to get to know them and their journey to Greymouth. I also wanted to find out what they were working on to make themselves more effective for our rangatahi learning and if they could change one thing about Grey High what would it be. These were confidential meetings to start to (hopefully) build positive, professional, trusting relationships. I also put on morning teas for our teacher aides (we have lots and lots of them) and the rest of our admin staff, again for them to get to know me and me, them. There have also been numerous meetings with community members, the Ministry, other local schools and so on.




The final points I’d like to make is firstly take all of the opportunities you are offered as you never know where they will take you. Secondly, and most importantly, relationships are the key. I have spent my career fostering them as I truly believe that when you need to have those difficult conversations, and I have already had a number this term, you can do so in a respectful manner which still allows you to keep the relationship going. Continuing to build these relationships with our staff, students and local community will allow us to all work together to be effective for all of rangatahi in Māwhera.