LEADERS – IN ACTION STORIES FROM ‘BEING IN LEADERSHIP’ THE VOICE OF LEADERS

 

https://nzeals.org.nz/ll-article/leaders-in-action-2/

Tēnā koutou katoa

Ko Mortimer toku whānau

Ko Samantha toku ingoa

I am Samantha Mortimer, a first-time principal at Greymouth High School, and I've been a member of NZEALS for a number of years. In this short article I am going to outline the process of applying for my principal position, the interview process and my first term.

In 2020 when both of our daughters were planning to leave home, one to university and one on Rotary Exchange, I began to seriously look for a principal position outside of our area in the Waikato. 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 was 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 exciting Trades opportunities, the Military Service Academy, the large, assisted learning department and that 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 was fortunate 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 was offered the position that evening and accepted it!

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 believe that our job is to work with our young people and their whānau to support each person to succeed in their own way. They have been welcoming to me 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 two points I’d like to make if people are thinking about leadership in any form are one, take all of the opportunities you are offered as you never know where they will take you. Two, and most importantly, remember that 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.

He aroha whakato

He aroha puta mai

If kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive.