Karen Houghton is looking forward to forming connections with her new students at Turua School.
The new principal, formerly from Pōkeno School, said she was drawn to the small, tight-knit community when she took on the role.
“For me, education is about people. Building relationships with students, staff, and the community is key,” she said.
“I really missed the fact that I didn’t know all the children by first name anymore [at Pokeno]. When you’ve got 650 kids, it’s just not possible to know every child in the school.
“But I know a lot of the kids at Turua already, which is so lovely.
“I’ve managed to teach in three of the classes now – that’s been really cool, being able to get back into the class and get to know the children,” she said.
Karen brings with her years of experience in pastoral care and special education, along with her teaching experience.
“A big part of my background is PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning), which is a behaviour management programme… it’s all about respect and care and love, and including others and listening to others.
“And Turua is quite new in their journey, but their latest ERO report did talk around the need to increase pastoral care, which is one of my strengths,” she said.
“[But] my philosophy is that the school has already got its own history and its own culture, so my first part of my role is just understanding where the school is at and getting to know the community and what they’re wanting for the school, because I believe that a principal’s role is to work collaboratively with the school community.”
Also on Karen’s radar this year are the new maths and literacy curriculums.
“When I first started as a SENCO or Special Educational Needs Coordinator at Pōkeno School, one of my big passions was how can we have so many children that are failing in reading and writing? What is causing that?
“So I did a lot of research into structured literacy well before it became a thing that was mandated through the government.”
But it won’t all be hard work – a sprinkling of humour will be an essential part of Karen’s toolbox as well.
“I love telling jokes, and I love riddles. They’ve already heard a lot of my bad jokes at school assembly. I think, particularly with big kids, if you can get them laughing and you can connect with them through a joke, then it really does solidify your relationship, and being able to be a bit of an idiot in front of them is good too,” she said.
“I got told last week that I had skibidy sigma. My kids were well-impressed by that. I didn’t know what skibidy meant – apparently, I’m extra cool, so there you go. I’ll take that.”
What Karen is most excited for, however, is continuing to grow the school’s welcoming community vibe.
“[The students] all come to school with their own set of values and understandings of the world, and it’s about ensuring that they can see themselves within the school so the school reflects who they are,” she said.
“That’s what I hope for them, that they’ll come to school and love it, and then the learning will just be a great by-product of that, because if a kid feels safe, happy, and connected, then they’re ready to learn, and that’s key, I think, for a child on the learning journey.”
