Former Taieri Rugby Club premier player Glen Beadle started his second term as the principal at Concord School earlier this week.
He said he had been lucky to be captained by some strong leaders at the club and led by some strong principals and was looking forward to bringing those lessons together.
He wanted to hone in on what they had done well and see what worked for him.
While the role had been a "huge jump" in his career, the support of the school’s community was making it a lot easier, he said.
"The more I get to know the community and the students and their families, it’s the more comfortable I start to feel in the role.
"Walking in the gate term 2 was a lot easier than term 1."
Mr Beadle grew up in Mosgiel and attended Taieri College before graduating with a teaching degree from the University of Otago in 2011.
He began teaching at Balclutha Primary School before moving to Fairfield School, where he taught for seven years.
He took on a teaching deputy principal role at Outram School for three years before moving to Concord this year.
He considered himself lucky to have taught at great community-based schools around Dunedin.
He felt the school had been well looked after by former principal Steve Turnbull and the board and was hoping to build on their progress by providing more opportunities for pupils.
In addition to meeting the government’s reading, writing and maths requirements, he was looking forward to introducing other ideas such as an orchard in the field from which fruit could be used for the school’s cooking and baking programme.
He wanted to give pupils at Concord as many opportunities as they would get at bigger schools.
