Bowden departs Spotswood
Spotswood College principal Mark Bowden says he is struggling through ‘‘a sense of sad joy’’ as he prepares to depart the school after eight years in charge.
It’s the right time for both him and the school, he said.
‘‘I’ve got no plans at this stage. Just having a sense of a new adventure of some description is exciting in itself,’’ he said.
‘‘I will miss the school. I’ll miss the kids. I will miss education; I’ve been doing this job for a long time, 20 years in senior leadership roles. I’m currently struggling through a sense of sad joy.’’
The Paritutu rock climbing accident in 2012, which saw two Spotswood students killed, is never far from the school’s consciousness, he said. ‘‘That was as tough as it gets really. ‘‘The tragedy happened on a Wednesday, and on the Friday I was walking back, I’d been over to see the international students, they lost Felipe (Melo); so I’d been talking to them and I was walking back across the school. As kids were leaving the school, a junior student came up to me – because we have a statement that says we are diverse, inclusive and caring – and he said to me, ‘Oh Mr Bowden, we really are a caring school aren’t we?’
‘‘And it just undid me, and I had to sort of scoot across the campus back into my office and close the door because it was a pretty raw time for us all.’’
Bowden said in his time the focus had shifted from one-size-fits-all to meeting a student’s individual needs.
‘‘We’ve moved from education being something that happens to you, to education being something that happens with you.’’
Bowden became principal of Spotswood College in 2010, moving into the position after eight years at Opunake High School, his first principalship.
He will be replaced at the start of term four by Pa¯ tea Area School’s Nicola Ngarewa, whom he used to work with at Opunake.