Proud principal looks forward to bigger roll

Principal Peter Heron with, from left, Kylie Mathewson, Anne-Marie Paterson, Trina Steele, Fiona Mackley, Debbie Stevens, with baby Alivia Steele (four months). Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Principal Peter Heron with, from left, Kylie Mathewson, Anne-Marie Paterson, Trina Steele, Fiona Mackley, Debbie Stevens, with baby Alivia Steele (four months). Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
When one-third of the teaching staff fall pregnant within months of the arrival of a new principal, there are bound to be a few raised eyebrows.

But Maniototo Area School principal Peter Heron swears six pregnant teachers in six months is nothing to do with him. ‘‘We're blaming the water.

‘‘We joked about the water and whether we should bottle it and put it on Trade-Me.'' The former Auckland secondary school teacher arrived at the 17-teacher school in Ranfurly last August.

Just months after his arrival, one teacher gave birth to a baby girl and five other teachers announced their pregnancies. A male teacher has also had a baby daughter.

While the mini baby-boom had led to some teasing from the school board, the impending births were all good news, Mr Heron said. ‘‘Five or six years down the road, we're going to have a really good new-entrant class coming through and we won't have any problems finding relief teachers.''

When the sixth teacher came to see him with her good news before the start of the new term, she was so glowing and happy, there was nothing to be done but ‘‘give her a big hug and say well done'', Mr Heron said.

Finding replacement teachers was ‘‘a nice challenge'' and not really a problem for the school, which had about 190 pupils, from year 1-13, Mr Heron said.

‘‘They talk about rural schools struggling to find staff, but we tend to have 20 or 30 applications for a job. ‘‘We have got small class sizes and country kids who are well behaved and have good attitudes to learning.''

Mr Heron, his wife and two of his three children had a tumultuous start to life in Ranfurly, when their home burned down just weeks after arriving in the town.

However, the community had rallied round, he said.

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement