Headmaster ‘will be sorely missed’
Nelson College headmaster Gary O’Shea is stepping down after 13 years at the helm.
‘‘It’s a long time to be running a significant operation like this. It’s time for someone else to take a fresh look’’, O’Shea said yesterday, after the board of trustees announced his resignation from the school of around 1000 students.
O’Shea became head of the 160-year-old boarding and day school in July 2006. He estimated that this made him the third- or fourth longest-serving headmaster of the 20 the school had seen.
While sad to be leaving the role that had been ‘‘the pinnacle of his career’’, the school had recently reached significant milestones, including the completion of a five-year project to renovate its boarding houses, O’Shea said.
‘‘The job’s never done, and the job needs a lot of energy. There’s never a right time [to leave] – there is always a challenge around the corner.’’
Nelson College was a ‘‘very different school’’ than it was 14 years ago, he said. It was ‘‘much more eclectic and multicultural’’ than the country’s 49 other boysonly schools, he said, citing the fact that students chose their own head boy, as well a support team of Pasifika, Ma¯ori and international head boys.
O’Shea started his working life as a teacher 40 years ago, and became deputy principal at Nelson College in 2004.
He said he now planned to focus on educational consultancy work, and community-based projects around Motueka, where he now lives.
The board said it had reluctantly accepted O’Shea’s resignation. O’Shea had led the school through ‘‘unprecedented change and positive development’’, chairman Dennis Christian said.
A well as the boarding redevelopment, notable recent successes under his leadership were the development of the whare and the Gibbons Trade Centre, Christian said. Education Review Office reviews in 2012 and 2016 placed Nelson College ‘‘in the top 10 per cent of schools nationally’’.
‘‘Mr O’Shea’s vision, experience, empathy and determination will be sorely missed by the college community,’’ Christian said. ‘‘The board thanks him unreservedly for his service, and wishes him well as he takes a change in career direction and seeks other challenges.’’
O’Shea will stay on as head until the end of term one, in 2020. The board said it would begin looking for a replacement immediately.