Delivering quality outcomes

Mike Turner is the Duntroon School principal/tumuaki in the Waitaki District of Aotearoa’s South Island. He has been the principal at Duntroon School since September 2019.

This is his first role as a principal, prior to that he had been a deputy principal for several years. Currently, the school roll has 74 primary school students, but this will most likely jump to about 85 by July 2023.

The school has a common goal of being the best they can and Mike is determined to make this happen!

Why do you enjoy being a principal at this school?

It’s all about the people. This school has a great culture and we continue to make that a priority. It is a special place to work. The staff are committed to achieving great outcomes for all of our tamariki and we have a very supportive family network who we work closely with to respect, cooperation and inclusion, perseverance, and honesty. Why are these values important to Duntroon School? Our values are what we ‘hang our hat on’. Our values relate well to relationships. We teach our tamariki to have positive relationships with all students and staff. They are here to take care of themselves and others. These values are modelled by our team also. We use them in our teaching and revisit them with our students often. They can articulate why they are important and why we live by them here at Duntroon. Our values relate well to our Tikanga values of mana, whanaungatanga, rangatiratanga, and kaitiakitanga.

Your school stands for being the BEST it can be: ‘Believing in yourself, Empowered to learn, Socially responsible, and Thinkers and learners for life’. How do these goals motivate your primary school students to do their best at school?

This sits alongside our core values and is another way we can motivate our students in their learning. We want to instill in our students that if they try hard, they can have success. We always encourage them to try new things and help build their confidence to do so. We want to be great role models and active participants in their learning. These are the messages that we give our students all the time.

What do you think your students enjoy most about Duntroon School and why?

A big part would go back to culture. That it is like a family. We all know each other and each other’s families and we are all looking out for each other. A student made a comment to me last year who had arrived from another school. He said, “At my last school I had about 10 friends. At Duntroon School I have 85 friends”.

The roll at the time was 85. That made me feel like we have the culture right for our tamariki. They feel supported in their learning. They know that our staff wants them to have success and that they care about their learning, socialisation and are there for them in a pastoral capacity too.