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Hutt Valley High School principal Ross Sinclair passed away over the weekend.
The Hutt Valley community is in mourning for a popular principal who brought the local high school out of its lowest point.
Ross Sinclair, who had been ill for over a year and dropped out of school about six weeks ago, died over the weekend.
When Sinclair left an assistant principal position at Burnside High School in Christchurch to take the helm of Hutt Valley High School in 2008, the place was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
“His peers told him it was a poisoned chalice, they said he was crazy,” said Hamish Bowen, chairman of the Hutt Valley High Board of Trustees. Sinclair had been ill for over a year and had dropped out of school about six weeks ago.
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Bullying was rife at Hutt Valley High at the time, with many parents taking their children away. The result was a damning report from the Ombudsman and an apology from the school and its board.
Sinclair acted quickly and successfully to create change.
Bowen, who has been on the board for more than four years, said Sinclair was tasked with changing the school.
Stuff
Sinclair and former archivist Colleen Creswell show 1930 student Barbara Gardner Taylor-Cannon the honor boards during a tour of the school grounds, which have changed a lot in 2011, the school’s 85th anniversary.
“He did a fantastic job. It has gone from strength to strength. Before Ross, the list had dropped and they were pulling kids out of the zone. Now we are at full capacity, we have a high demand and we cannot get anyone out of the area, “said Bowen.
“He showed fantastic leadership, in the staff that he has selected around him, as well as in the way he has run the school. Their commitment was incredible. He read all the reports for each child. That’s about 1800 students, and sign each one, ”he said.
Bowen said he had been talking to several students past and present, and “was well known for having an excellent memory for names and for stopping and wanting to know how they were doing.”
“He loved challenges. When people told him not to go to Hutt Valley, he would say ‘what better challenge could there be than facing a school in trouble,’ ”he said.
Sinclair is survived by his wife Annabelle and their children Alexander, Charlotte and Emily.
