Season 2 Trailer

The Principals podcast is coming back for a second season! A big thank you to all our listeners for your feedback and for your amazing support.

 

We’re just starting to record interviews for our second season, and we’re  really keen to hear what’s top of mind for you - what can we cover in the podcast that would help you in your journey towards - or through - principalship? Do you know of a principal with an amazing story that everyone should hear? Drop us an email at [e-mail] with your ideas – we’d love to hear them. I’ll pop the email address in the show notes too.

 

We’ll be back on the 29th of July with new episodes – perhaps on a topic you suggest! See you then!

Episode Transcript

Eleisha (00:05):
Kia ora, Eleisha McNeill here from The Principals
podcast. A huge thank you to allour listeners this season, and
for the great feedback on theshow. Thanks to you, we're
coming back for a second season.So you know what you've helped
us achieve - we've had over 10and a half thousand downloads
from around the world, mostly inNew Zealand of course, but we
also have listeners in - are youready - Australia, Japan,

(00:29):
Indonesia, the US, Switzerland,Canada, the UK, India, Malaysia,
the list goes on. If you're aprincipal and your colleagues
aren't listening, spread theword. The stats tell us the most
popular episodes have been thefirst episode, the introductory
one with the leaders of some ofyour principal's associations.
The episode about looking afteryourself came in second, so

(00:49):
that's obviously a superimportant topic and one we may
need to revisit. That's followedclosely by our legislation
episode with Patrick Walsh andGretchen Stone, Lots of interest
there, maybe there's an updateepisode coming. The leading
through change episode came infourth, and rounding out the top
five was the episode abouttransitioning into the principal
role. I've really enjoyedspeaking with all these amazing

(01:14):
tumuaki about their lives andwhat the role has meant to them
and what it's involved for themand for some of them, it's been
pretty big stuff. As a parent,it's been a great insight into
what it's like inside that bigoffice, and I really respect and
admire what you all do and whatyou give to your communities.
Here are some of the things thathave stuck with me from Season

(01:35):
One.

Leanne (01:36):
I love my job, way. I love, love, love being a
principal

Bruce (01:39):
I love serving iwi, hapū and whānau. I love it when
tamariki do well.

Vaughan (01:44):
Being a principal is still one of the best jobs in
the world, I love it It's notsimple, it's complicated, but
with that complication comes awhole lot of reward.

Tom (01:51):
I kind of envisaged the job would be a hell of a lot
different to what it turned outto be, thought yep I'll just be
barking out the orders andpeople will do what I want them
to do. It doesn't work out thatway.

Andrew (02:01):
There's no one day that is the same. So entertainment
value is pretty high Yes,

Erin (02:05):
We all thought we needed to lock the school down.
Everybody was crouched down inone space and I slowly rose up
just to see a herd of cows justgoing straight through the
school.

Bruce (02:14):
And so you're juggling, but you, you're not juggling in
a circus. You don't want it tolook like a circus. You want to
have a handle on things you areable to be that leader in
learning.

Leanne (02:23):
It is quite a lonely job because you are at the top and
you know, you are taking thathuge responsibility in your
school. You aren't alone. Thereare two and a half thousand
other principals across thecountry who are experiencing
very similar things to you,sometimes very different things
to you. But they're there.

Rowan (02:37):
And there was just some unreal things like, you know,
snipers on our roof. just stuffyou never in your wildest and
I've never seen grief like that.Outside of the school we became
a community hub. It was nice tobe able to provide support well
beyond what our Monday to Fridayrole is, and I'm really grateful
and proud of what we were ableto do.

Patrick (02:56):
The emphasis is on principals being leaders of
learning as their primary focus,and clearly that's where it
should be. But the risks forprincipalship is often in other
areas, includ legal andfinancial.

Vaughan (03:08):
There may be argument about quantum not necessarily
increasing in terms of standdowns and suspensions from a
secondary perspective, theacuteness of behaviour is
increasing rapidly.

Gretchen (03:18):
Previously I have never done sessions around
managing difficult parents. I domanaging difficult teachers and
managing difficult students. NowI do do a session on managing
difficult parents, and I'llprobably say it's about the most
popular.

John (03:31):
We all want the same thing, we want your student to be, you
know, feeling successful and tobe achieving well at school and
to be happy and secure here.What things can we do together
that are going to get us to thatplace?

Murray (03:41):
Could you imagine a scenario where you throw every
kid in the bus, you go out,drive into the bush, you open
the windows and the door and say,get a good smell, get a good,
sight of the bush, becausethat's all you're going to get.
The regulations are so tightenedthat we're not getting out of
the bus. And I often think aboutthat as much as I do to this day
wish it the tragedy never, everhappened, I don't think we

(04:04):
should stop, but we should do itwith every sense of sensibility,
preparation, as possible,because our tamariki deserve it.

Marama (04:13):
I treat my staff with the same aroha and care as I
would with the kids in my classbut also understanding that I
have to focus my efforts on thethings that I have an influence
on as their leader and theirmanager.

Ngahina (04:25):
I care, that's why I'm here.

Eleisha (04:27):
Love it. We're just starting to record interviews
for our second season, and we'rereally keen to hear what's top
of mind for you. What can wecover in the podcast that would
help you in your journey towardsor through principalship? Do you
know of a principal with anamazing story that everyone
needs to hear? Drop us an emailat principals. podcast@education.

(04:49):
govt. nz with your ideas, wewould love to hear them. I'll
pop the email address in theshow notes too. We'll be back on
the 29th of July with newepisodes, perhaps on a topic you
suggest. See you then.