Sarah Hay’s new job as Waitaki Girls’ High School principal has brought her back home.

Born and raised in Oamaru, and a former pupil of St Kevin's College, she is excited about being closer to her father and siblings, who all still live here.

She was also looking forward to living with husband Bernard Sinclair, the couple having had a two-hour commute to see each other for most of their relationship.

Bernard worked as a rural contractor in Taihape, and Sarah’s teaching roles had taken her to St Peter’s School, in Cambridge and then to Hawkes Bay, as deputy principal at Iona College.

“It’s a gnarly little range to go over - it’s not nice,’’ she said of the commute they had endured between Hawkes Bay and Taihape, the past four years.

Waitaki Girls’ had particularly appealed to her, because it held the values she deemed to be important in a school.

“When the principal [job] at Waitaki came up, it ticked a lot of the boxes, where transitioning to here would not be hard for me, or the staff, or the students, because you’re not going to be on a totally different page,” Sarah said.

She described the culture as one of “high expectation”.

“Personal excellence is really important. It starts with your appearance, it starts with attendance, it starts with taking pride in yourself. Supporting others is also important.”

Sarah is replacing Liz Koni, who resigned from the role at the end of last year for family reasons, and said rather than feeling like she had big shoes to fill, she thought the two of them had “similar sized shoes”.

“It’s a case of we’re just swapping one pair of shoes for another really . . . It is like, same, same but different, in terms of the standards of what Liz brought in - that is important to me as well.

“The no-cellphone standards within the school, that’s what I’ve been living for many years, so it’s just normal. Uniform standards - I’m very keen to uphold those - and image in the community is important. So, yeah.

“I think that there’s possibly why the board appointed me, if that makes sense, to carry on what has been started.” 

She hoped to put her experience with boarding schools to use as well, and further foster the boarding aspect of the school. 

With the last two schools she worked at being of special character, Sarah thought she had “accidentally” brought the desire for community and whanau involvement with her. 

“That’s just normal for me, and I think already, for the Mihi whakatau (welcoming ceremony), I’m used to the whole whanau being invited, and that hasn’t happened in the past - maybe because of Covid. So we’ve got to lose the Covid state and get back to our norm, which is we want the community and whanau involved in the school, and that there is super important.”

Sarah said it felt unusual to be back home, and because everything with the job had happened so quickly, she was in a sort of “limbo”. 

She was “flatting” with her father until Bernard could join her, once his existing contracting work wrapped up, and they could find a house.

The biggest drawcard to being in Ōamaru, was working at an awesome school, and it had been a relatively simple move, she said.

“Normally you’ve got to find somewhere to live, and you’re homeless . . . being Dad’s flatmate is quite straightforward.”

She was looking forward to the beginning of term one.

“I’m looking forward to getting to meet students, and the whanau. I’m really looking forward to Monday when the students start coming in, that will be great.”

The nearby Waitaki lakes also appealed, and she was excited about taking her boat, to waterski and wakeboard.