Photo / Stuff
By Stuff reporter Gianina Schwanecke.
Te Rina Leonard has been appointed as the new chief executive of the country’s largest school, Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, formerly The Correspondence School.
Leonard (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Raukawa) is the first Māori woman to be appointed as chief executive at Te Kura, which celebrated its centenary last year.
Leonard described the appointment as the “highlight of her career” and said she was incredibly proud.
“Te Kura is uniquely placed to be a powerful catalyst for change in our education system,” she said.
Its current deputy chief executive of learning delivery, she will take over the role from Mike Hollings who steps down after 17 years on July 31.
“We have made massive strides in the past five years, and I am honoured and very excited about leading Te Kura into the next phase of our remarkable history.”
Board of Trustees chairperson Nicola Ngarewa said Leonard’s proven leadership, determination and passion for improving opportunities for ākonga (students) and Māori provided a great foundation for leading Te Kura.
“She also has a proven ability to build high-performing teams and to work with them and across organisations to lead innovation and system improvements.”
Ngarewa said Leonard had held a wide variety of education positions during her career and she brought a breadth and depth of experience to her new role.
After qualifying as an educational psychologist, Leonard went on to successfully lead large operational, evaluation and policy teams in education.
She has also worked in education policy and evaluation at the Education Review Office.
Te Kura has had a 40% increase in full-time enrolments since 2018. Last year, it had almost 30,000 enrolments.
- Stuff.