Relection: Shared with Margaret Kaa
This was an amazing opportunity for me to really see what life is like as a Principal. I had an opportunity to earn lots of new tasks and get a reality check ofwhat a varied and busy role it was. You are juggling so many balls in the air at once and then you get a new event that you have to deal with but you still have all the smaller jobs that must be continued for theschool to run effectively.
I was quite anxious about Novopay as it was something I had had no experience with it but I learnt so much about that and feel fairly confident with that now. I asked so many questions about banked staffing as it was one of the more difficult areas to understand, and our novopay rep would pass me on to her manager and through this I discovered a novopay error from last year that ended up crediting the school back about $30,000. I even got offered a job at Novopay after my detective work. ha ha ha.
Another challenge during Term 1 was managing a Mumps outbreak and working with Auckland Regional Health to manage this. Lots of new learning for me and the schoool.
Managing peopleI was probably the part that I had the most growth and reflection. I had quite a few difficult conversations and I got to know so much more about the staff at Tuakau School. I learnt that different pepole require different ways to communicate. I learnt that the strategy of listening, pausing and repeating back to the person is the best way to make sure I captured the conversation correctly. I learnt to ask what the person would like to see happen. All great things for me in the future.
Being Principal in Term 1 just lit my fire that I would like to do this in the future.
