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Katie Hills describes her first few weeks as Principal of Dairy Flat School as “a baptism of fire”.
She was only three weeks into the role when the Level 4 lockdown began.
“I’ve been a Principal in lockdown longer than not,” she says. “It’s been challenging because relationships are so important in any community and all of that has been put on hold, or on Zoom, which is tricky for all of us.”
She says it has been good to see online learning swing into action. She believes a combination of technology and the environment/learning outside the classroom is critical to preparing children to be global citizens.
A teacher with more than 25 years’ experience, Katie was the former Deputy Principal of Torbay School.
She says in some ways her new role is like coming home – she was a teacher at Dairy Flat School around 18 years ago, and her two oldest children both went there.
“We did Ag Day and all those other things that the school is known for,” she says.
“Being a little country school with such large surrounding urban areas is special and we want to hold onto that as the area grows.”
Katie takes over from Debbie Marshall, who resigned in April after 14 years at the head of the school.
