New Sacred Heart Deputy Principal’s vision to empower young women
Sacred Heart College’s new Deputy Principal Rachel Read has a vision to empower the young women of the school.
Appointed at the beginning of this term, Ms Read is returning to the Deputy Principal role that she last held in Tanzania, Africa 20 years ago.
Prior to starting in her new role Ms Read worked at Napier Girls’ for five years, where she taught English and was the Across-School literacy leader for Mataruahou Kāhui Ako/Community of Learning, before joining the senior leadership team this year.
As Deputy Principal at Sacred Heart College, Ms Read has been put in charge of pastoral care, which she sees as a new challenge.
“I think this is quite exciting because I'm going to develop my skills in leading pastoral care. It's not just the students in my classrooms that I'm teaching, it's developing skills in a broader sense.”
Ms Read says she would like to be a role model for the students at Sacred Heart College. Her vision is to “empower young women” and show them that they have lots of options.
She wants the students to recognise the importance of education, and to also think about how education can give them options for their future. Ultimately, Ms Read sees a key part of her new role as
“supporting the staff and the students to be the best that they can, in a number of ways”.
Ms Read says she is “really pleased to be coming to another girls' college” and is excited about the opportunity to learn new things and nurture a new group of students.
While this is the first Catholic school Ms Read has taught at, she believes doing something new is exciting.
“It'll be more growth and more learning, and I feel like it's another way to grow as a person as well.”
Ms Read feels that the school has a “clear focus” on the spirituality of girls’ development, rather than just thinking about teaching and learning, and sporting and cultural activities.
“I think this is really important in 2021. It’s very exciting that a really important part of what the school offers young women, is developing and supporting their personal growth.”
“For a lot of young people, it is actually a difficult, challenging time. So, I think developing girls' spirituality is an awesome aspect of what the school offers.”
Ms Read’s career has spanned 28 years as a teacher, where she has held a number of leadership roles. She was Head of Department at Auckland International College for six years before returning to Taradale High School as a Specialist Classroom Teacher.
Ms Read says she “loves variety” and loves to explore new places and new challenges.
She has primarily worked in middle leadership but has taken some breaks to have children and raise a family.
Now that her own children are more independent, Ms Read believes it is a good time to get back into senior leadership.
Ms Read’s association with Sacred Heart College goes back a while. She previously worked with Marysia Airey, Deputy Principal of Teaching and Learning, when they both taught at Taradale High School. And during her five-year tenure at Napier Girls’, Ms Read worked with the staff at Sacred Heart College through the Kāhui Ako, including principal Maria Neville-Foster.
“I was really drawn to working with them.”
For Ms Read, it is all about the school and what it offers. “I think it's got a lot to offer, and definitely the strong leadership team here was a major pulling factor for me.”
“It's a school that really cares about its students, and that appeals to me as well.”
She hopes to contribute to the wider life of the school and sees her role as ‘hands-on” as much as possible. “That’s the fastest and best way of getting to know a wider number of students.”
