New principal has challenging start
STEERING the Gold Coast’s most exclusive girls’ school during a global pandemic has been “all consuming”, says St Hilda’s School principal Wendy Lauman.
Ms Lauman recently took over the top job officially, but was at the helm of the school as interim principal since July last year following the shock resignation of former principal Dr Julie Wilson Reynolds.
“There are a number of families who are really suffering right now, those that have been affected by floods, bushfires and now as a result of the coronavirus,” Ms Lauman said.
“And yet despite what they’ve been struggling with, many families of boarders made the decision to move to the Gold Coast and rent so their girls can continue their education.
“These parents are making incredible sacrifices so that their children can continue their studies at St Hilda’s as day girls.’’
While all St Hilda’s day girls had the all-clear to attend classes at school, handling the boarding side of the school had been difficult when, at the height of the pandemic fears, only 10 boarders were allowed because strict coronavirus restrictions dictated each girl must have their own shower and toilet.
Ms Lauman confessed that leading the school during a global pandemic was “all consuming, but that self-care is a really important feature of my life.
“I’ve been sharing with the girls that I’ve taken up happy walking over the last couple of months. I found a little You
Tube video that I follow.”
Ms Lauman, who became the school’s deputy principal in 2014, said her priority as principal was to be right across every single area of the school and spend “quality time with the girls”.
“A great leader I worked for in the past taught me about the benefits of being present, particularly at parent group meetings, sports and cultural events. I make a point of visiting the classrooms to really get to see what the girls’ lives are like,” she said.
A mother of two adult daughters and grandmother of three, she has previously held leadership roles at two other Christian girls’ schools – Moreton Bay College and St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane.
Becoming a principal had not been on her radar when she began.
“But it’s certainly a journey that I’ve really treasured,’’ she said.
“I’ve always felt that you need to be the right cultural fit for where you serve and at each of the three schools I have worked at I feel at home”.
Ms Lauman said that before the global pandemic, the school was on a trajectory for more building.
While this was on the backburner, she was looking forward to the school building an auditorium and performing centre.
“I hope it’s something that can be realised in the not-toodistant future of St Hilda’s because it would be wonderful for the school community to have a venue that was an intimate and special place for parents to see their girls perform,” she said.
As for a rumour that she knows the names of the more than 1000 girls at school, she said: “I can’t say that when I’m on the street I’ll be able to quickly recall their name, but I will think ‘I know you’.
“I have to say that I feel much-loved.
“We are a school that looks after each other and the girls are so welcoming and so caring.
“I feel that they accept me for who I am and pleased to have me looking after them.”