Principal’s organising skills come in handy

‘‘Everybody had a laptop, and we had spare laptops . . . We got organised early and were ready.’’ Tara Quinney on pandemic preparedness at St Peter’s College in Gore

Tara Quinney’s second year as a secondary school principal is going much smoother than the first, in which she dealt with flooding and Covid-19 challenges.

She stepped up to be principal of St Peter’s College in Gore at the start of last year, but on the second day of term one, flooding struck eastern Southland and forced the school to close for three days.

Seven weeks later, the college was shut for two months because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and schooling moved online.

The flood and pandemic didn’t faze the new principal and her leadership team. ‘‘But it certainly felt very biblical . . . We’d had a flood and almost a plague, so what other type of Egyptian curse could be coming?’’ she said, laughing.

An alert from the Ministry of Education in January last year, informing her that the pandemic could reach New Zealand, prompted Quinney to organise a quarantine plan and ramp up health and safety systems.

Arranging a plan for the safety of students staying at the college’s hostel was a priority. Sessions to upskill teachers and students on technology for online schooling at home were held.

‘‘Everybody had a laptop, and we had spare laptops if someone had their one broken,’’ Quinney said. ‘‘We got organised early and were ready.’’

Online attendance from home was good. But if anyone was absent, a staff member would get in touch to check they were OK.

Occasionally, some students logged on to do school work wearing their pyjamas, but they were soon asked to change, Quinney said.

Containers of hand sanitising gel are now kept in classrooms and at college entranceways.

Increasing awareness of the importance of hygiene had helped to reduce the number of students being off sick, Quinney said.

The Covid-19 restriction preventing gatherings of more than 100 people caused the college ball to be postponed three times. It was eventually held in December.

Quinney, a former Central Southland College student, was deputy principal of Chanel College in Masterton before moving to St Peter’s.

The former St Peter’s principal, Kate Nicholson, is now in the same role at Kavanagh College in Dunedin.