Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo last week announced his retirement after 25 years at the school.
Craig Haggo didn’t really want to be a teacher.
But his mum thought he would make a good one, and said her opinion was one he should listen to.
He wasn’t sure about retiring either, but his doctor’s opinion was that he should, and he recognised that was also an opinion he should listen to.
Haggo retired as Pongakawa School principal last week after 25 years in the role, quitting before the job took too much of a toll.
“My doctor pretty much said to me, ‘if you want to have a good third stage to your life, it’s time to pull the pin’,” he said.
“He’s dealt with a lot of principals who haven’t when they should have, and their retirement life was pretty depressing.
“For the first time in my life, I followed his advice.”
Despite coming from a family of teachers, a young Haggo had never considered becoming one himself until his mum, who he describes as a “pocket rocket”, asked him what his future plans were.
“I said: ‘my mate Paul and I are going to get on our motorbikes and go on a bit of a cruise’ and Mum said ‘no, you’re not doing that’.”
She filled out the application forms for teachers’ college despite his protestations that he wouldn’t do well at the interview because he wasn’t interested.
“She said ‘that’s okay because I know two of the three people on the panel’, so that’s what happened.”
Haggo described his first lesson as far from inspirational, but his second, a lesson about adrenaline, had a bigger impact.
He could sense the students were drifting, so he thwacked a metal ruler on a desk, giving everyone in the room, including the supervising teacher sitting at the back, a good, practical demonstration about its effects.
“I heard the teacher yell out ‘holy shit, what was that?’ at which the kids burst into laughter.”
Haggo’s first teaching job was at Greerton School, and he later moved to Te Kuiti.
“It was the best thing I ever did because I really learned how to teach and started to get a bit of responsibility.”
By the time of his next move, Tomorrow’s Schools had ushered in the era of Boards of Trustees and, after being interviewed for a role at Pillans Point School and waiting in the staff room, he saw a job advertised at Te Puna School in the Education Gazette.
“I rang the principal, and he invited me out, and I ended up teaching at Te Puna, not at Pilllans Point. I loved it and stayed there for four or five years.”
Haggo’s next move was to Katikati Primary School as deputy principal.
Used to turning up at school wearing Levis, basketball boots and Billabong sweatshirts, he had to change his wardrobe, but it was worth it.
“I thought I’d really made it, but on the first day I wandered in, turned off the alarm and did it wrong and the whole school had fire alarms and bells and whistles going and I realised how little I knew.”
It soon became obvious he needed to test himself more, so he interviewed for the job of principal of Ponghakawa School.
“I’d been here in couple of times with sports exchanges, and I brought stuff that I’d done at Katikati so they knew I had some clue.
“Then at the end of the interview, Joyce Cobb, a lovely lady who’s passed away now, came up to me and whispered in my ear and said, ‘you’ll do’.”
Haggo’s first days as principal had its highs and lows.
“The kids were magic, the staff were supportive... but the buildings weren’t what I was used to.”
Haggo said in the late 1990s and early 2000s, rural school boards sometimes minimised the building work that needed to be done for fear they would be closed down.
“I guess, all things considered, it became clear the Ministry [of Education] needed to spend some cash here, and they weren’t particularly inclined to, so that took quite a bit of persuasive work.
“We started getting roll growth, and it was quite a battle to get the Ministry to understand that we qualified for funding.”
Then-Bay of Plenty opposition MP Tony Ryall made a real difference, Haggo said.
Haggo also made a cheeky, although accidental, phone call to then-Education Minister Trevor Mallard’s office, which was not “the done thing”.
Eventually, there was success with funding forthcoming for an arts centre, and later towards the Pongakawa Action Centre that was also supported by TECT, other grants and $130,000 raised by the local community.
“We raised the most amount of money of any school in New Zealand in 2012-13.”
Haggo said the school has plenty of history and is built on strong values, but it embraced change and the future.
“We’ve never followed trends, but we do set them.”
He believes his greatest legacy is that the school has continued to grow under his leadership.
“That and the fact that kids are hugely successful here.
“We don’t let kids slip through the net; we have long-standing staff members, and the biggest vote of confidence is the kids that were here when I came have come back and brought their kids.
“And because we’ve got good, strong parent support, not just in the PTA, not just in the Board of Trustees, but in the wider community, everybody is actively engaged in ensuring that the very best learning opportunities happen for their kids.”
Haggo said he still “loves the place” and felt he was still doing a good job, but there were warning signs on an overseas trip last year when he realised how tired he was.
His newfound spare time will be filled with family time, hobbies, and leisurely reading.
“I’m pretty lucky. I’ve got a wife [Gaylene] who’s hugely supportive and kids and extended family who are really supportive of me.
“I realised a bit over a year ago that, other than things that are educational, I hadn’t read a book probably for over 10 years – that’s a bit frightening from a guy involved in education, especially as I was promoting it as such an important thing to do.”
Deputy principal Mike Judd has stepped up as acting principal while the board works through a full recruitment process. Haggo has taken on an advisory role through the transition.
People have been asking Haggo if he is at peace with his decision to retire, and he said he is.
“I think the school is in a really good place, and whoever follows me will have a good run.”