After a more than 40-year teaching career, including 35 at Cambridge High School, Sandra McKinnon is retiring.
Mrs McKinnon has worked at Cambridge High School since 1991 in roles across the senior leadership team. But 40 years ago, there was “never any doubt” she wanted to teach.
Originally from Auckland, after leaving high school She took a gap year and completed an Executive Business course before beginning a Bachelor of Arts Degree, the touch typing skills learnt in that business course became invaluable with the introduction of computers, she says.
“Teaching attracted me because I was naturally bossy and organised and to be honest the government studentship scheme at the time was also prepared to pay me to train,” she says. Fortunately it turned out to be a good choice.
After training to be an English and History teacher, Mrs McKinnon started teaching English at Matamata College in 1984. She moved to Putāruru College to teach History and Social Studies. In her five years at the college she was also a dean, in charge of equestrian, involved in productions and introduced Peer Support to the school.
In 1991, Mrs McKinnon joined Cambridge High School as Head of Social Sciences.
By 2002 she had moved into the Curriculum Coordinator role and shortly after became assistant principal. She also taught Classics and still has two Year 13 Classics classes.
There are sure to be changes when you work in one school for 35 years but Mrs McKinnon says that is one of the reasons she’s stayed.
“I’ve pretty much done most of the main areas of senior leadership in a school, such as leading Professional development, Reporting, Curriculum Development. There was always something different to do.
“I’ve made just about every mistake in the book, some of them twice and you try to learn from it.”
But as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same, she says.
Looking back at old school newspapers from the early 2000s recently it’s easy to find mentions of technology (Overhead projectors that is) needing repair, “resources from the dark ages,” school camps, reimagined school houses and peer support, she says. Academic success, whatever that might look like for a student, and preparation for pathways after school have never changed as a teaching goal.
She’s worked with four permanent principals at the school starting with Russ Warren. She credits Alison Annan, principal from 1992 to 2004, for teaching her to be accountable.
“I credit her for making me think more about teaching, being accountable and having high expectations for the students.”
In recent years, Mrs McKinnon has been involved in Senior Academic Performance with a particular focus on those at academic risk.
“It’s hugely rewarding because some of these kids have never been successful starting from primary school, they see someone offering them a pathway forward and they grab it.”
Helping students at academic risk has long been on the radar for Mrs McKinnon. She worked with Murray Feast in the Pathways programme which aimed to help students who needed academic support, had failed often and as a result were disengaged.
They initially aimed for the selected students to get 20 credits in the first year, and then discovered with the support they were getting, and the benefits of individualised attention they were getting close to passing so for some we needed to aim higher. Those who attained Level 1 generally left for WINTEC, or other job opportunities the following year, she says. Many of Mr Feast’s students attained an NCEA qualification, the majority of them found a pathway after school – and they were both fun and rewarding people to work with.
“It was so good working with those kids, and it felt like they had an advocate in a school that they hadn't really had before. Pathways gave some of them hope.”
Her time working on Pathways is one career highlight, others include overseas trips such as the Social Science trip to the United States, and a staff scholarship in 2002 which aided a trip to Turkey including Gallipoli, where her grandfather and his two brothers all fought in World War I.
Other highlights include the activities she may not have otherwise done herself such as black and whitewater rafting, caving, abseiling, and skiing. Plus, the time spent “laughing so much it hurt” at school camps.
“I also enjoy the year 13s leaving. They leave us well prepared and with direction and optimism. I love the graduation ceremony and working with the Senior Celebration committee on school jerseys and leavers books. The graduation ceremony at Cambridge High School has grown enormously and last year the new gym was filled with students and whaanau.
Mrs McKinnon has also seen her two children attend the school and says it offered them a lot of opportunities.
Outside of education, she and her husband Rod own a farm, and it’s this which is likely to keep her occupied in retirement. At the end of term, they plan to travel around North Africa and the UK before returning to the farm. She is exploring the idea of taking up beekeeping. Between dairy, kiwifruit and growing native plants, it is sure to keep her busy.
