The Foundation Principal for the new Wanaka South school will be Mrs Jodie Howard, currently the Deputy Principal at Hawea Flat school.
The Chair of the Establishment Board for the new school, Dr Ian Hall, announced today that Mrs Howard had been appointed from a strong field of 17 applicants. “We are delighted to appoint Jodie who is well known in our local community and who has a strong track record as an outstanding educational leader,” Dr Hall said.
Mrs Howard graduated from the Dunedin College of Education with a Diploma of Teaching and is also a graduate of the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Education and a Post-graduate Diploma of Education (Teaching). Mrs Howard has been Deputy Principal at Hawea Flat since 2005.
Mrs Howard said that she was excited to accept the significant challenge of being the Foundation Principal and establishing the new school. “I’ll be working closely with the Board and with our local community to create a unique culture for the new school,” Mrs Howard said. “I’ll want to create a learning environment that meets the aspirations of our local community, and I will be dedicated to providing quality educational experiences for all children at the new school.”
The new school will open at the start of the 2020 school year and will cater for an initial roll of 400 students on a new site in Three Parks adjacent to the Wanaka Recreation Centre. It is expected that construction of the new school will start in early 2019.
The Establishment Board will be consulting in coming weeks on an enrolment scheme for the new school. Plans for the new school will be available soon, and the Board will also determine a suitable name for the school.
