St Matthew's Collegiate to get new principal

LONG SERVICE: Principal Erik Pedersen is retiring after 30 years at the school.

Kiri Gill is to start as principal at St Matthew's Collegiate School next year and will replace Erik Pedersen, who is retiring after 30 years at the Masterton school.

Ms Gill comes to Wairarapa after working as deputy principal at Heretaunga College in Upper Hutt, where her background had been in English, pastoral care, community roles, curriculum and assessment management, says Lynette Field, chairwoman of the St Matthew's Collegiate School board of trustees.

Ms Gill had also worked at Scots College and Porirua College in Wellington and at St Paul's Collegiate School and Hamilton Girls' High School in Hamilton.

Born in Taupo and raised in the Waikato, Ms Gill has two adult children and is living in Whitby with her partner. She will shift in to the principal's house on site at St Matthew's Collegiate during the Christmas holidays.

Mrs Field welcomes the opening of a new era at the collegiate next year, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the school.

"Kiri is a woman of vision and will be a wonderful role model for the young women of St Matthew's Collegiate. She brings a new group of skills and her enthusiasm to the role and I am thrilled to have attracted a principal of her calibre. I look forward to welcoming her and working alongside her," Mrs Field said.

Ms Gill said she would bring commitment, experience, a willingness to embrace change, a sense of humour and integrity.

Ms Gill is looking forward to her role, starting in the new year. "I do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. I encourage this in students on a daily basis," she said.