Chris Rennie and Ōhaupō School could be considered a tried and tested partnership.
He became the school’s new principal at the start of term one. With the first flurry now behind him, he chatted last week to The News about things that are important to him, both as a person and as a principal.
Family and community, academic excellence and the encouragement of cultural understanding among his 207 young charges all rate highly, and Chris’ own journey makes him well placed to deliver.
Ōhaupō School’s new principal brings a suite of leadership skills to the table.
This is his third spin at Ōhaupō and he admits that the school is ‘very special to me’.
He joined Ōhaupō’s teaching staff in 2008 before heading north to cover the roles of acting then deputy principal at Tikipunga Primary in Whangārei over a couple of years until changing family dynamics saw him return to Waipā.
Chris and wife Debby bought a home in Cambridge prior to the shift north and he has taught in the town, but with their young family growing they wanted to settle.
Chris returned to Ōhaupō School in 2014, initially teaching then taking on acting and deputy principal roles. In mid-2018, he moved to Te Awamutu Primary School as deputy principal until late last year when the retirement of former Ōhaupō School principal Sue McLocklan prompted him to apply. When he was accepted, it was almost as though the school was calling him home.
Through the moves, Chris has focused on building his leadership skills. It was an area that had always interested the South African born and trained teacher, and it was a leadership exchange through the University of Waikato that inspired Chris and Debby’s 2007 move to New Zealand.
“I was deputy principal at a South African primary school with 1500 students when the opportunity for that leadership exchange came up,” he said. “I found it immensely informative.”
Describing ‘collaborative leadership, strategic planning and the empowerment of educators to develop their knowledge’ as a strength, Chris approaches challenges through a solutions-oriented mindset, and prepares for those as much as possible.
He is learning Te Reo, and welcomes the inclusivity of a new history curriculum that views the past from all sides. He also welcomes the ‘structured literacy’ approach that returns phonics to the reading platform, believing it helps youngsters ‘decode’ the letters in front of them, giving them the tools to at least try new words.
He’s proud of Ōhaupō School’s record across a range of areas and is a strong advocate for student wellbeing.
“We are a PB4L school [Positive Behaviour for Learning], which means we teach respect, responsibility, honesty, inclusion and independence along with the three ‘Rs’,” he said. “It helps us build our strong school community. This school has a really good family feel to it.”
Family is all-important to Chris. Together with Debby, daughter Summer, 15, and son Laken, 11, they head off hiking and camping at every opportunity.
“I hadn’t been off the African continent before my first visit to New Zealand. Now, the whole family is acclimatised… we have even learned to ski.”
