St Peter’s principal to be gone by end of year
ST Peter’s College principal Tara Quinney has resigned. In April last year, the Gore school was placed in limited statutory management and Timaru lawyer Nicola Hornsey was appointed to the role.
The stateintegrated coeducational Catholic school has about 450 pupils. In a release yesterday, Ms Hornsey said Mrs Quinney would leave the school at the end of the year.
‘‘After five years in the role, Mrs Quinney considers it is time for the school to prepare for a leadership refreshment.
‘‘We appreciate Mrs
Quinney giving us early notice so that we can plan for a smooth transition into 2025 and get the recruitment process under way.’’
Throughout the leadership transition process, students would continue to be the key focus.
‘‘As always, our staff remain dedicated to providing quality teaching and support so that all students can reach their potential.’’
The recruitment process would begin by consulting the school community during the next few weeks.
‘‘The statutory intervention will remain in place until a new appointee has been fully inducted and the outcomes sought from the intervention have been achieved and sustained.’’
In her scoping report released in July last year, Ms Hornsey identified four issues that posed risks to the educational performance, health and safety of pupils and to the operation of the school: poor employment practices, incohesive governance framework, dysfunctional relationships between the school and board of trustees and diminished student voice.
An intervention plan based on nine Education Review Office effective governance statements was implemented.
In a review of the intervention in March this year, Ms Hornsey said she was very pleased to report progress had been made and responsibility for supporting the special character of the school had been given back to the board of trustees.
In April, the school’s former principal, John Hogue, a Dunedin Catholic Diocese representative, was elected head of the school board.