It started after she left her cadetship working at a local dairy farm and looked around town for work.
Unemployed, she became a part of the Community Taskforce scheme, working as a teacher aide at Cobham School, under principal Darryle Prosser.
The staff, whānau and students were amazing and it was then she knew she was going to be a teacher.
“I knew I wanted to work in a school,” said Gina. “I wanted to work in this school, this is the only school I ever wanted to work at.”
She left to study at Waikato University in 1997. Her studies took longer than planned after Gina became pregnant with her first daughter, Shahni, during her second year of university.
Gina took a year off and then continued her studies through Waikato but was able to base herself in Gisborne at Cobham School, only heading north to attend block courses.
“My daughter was like the uni baby. I'd pass her round during lectures — they all got to feed her and look after her . . and I got to study,” said Gina.
Qualified, Gina jumped around schools from Gisborne Intermediate, Kaiti to Rere, picking up contracts at different schools. Her first role at Cobham was in 2001 with her new son Noah tucked safely in her front pack as she taught.
“I've taught at so many schools around Gisborne but this is where I'm at home.”
By the time her youngest child was two years old, her journey was that of a single Mum with four kids.
“That was when I gave up teaching and went to work for Plunket because it was too hard to teach with four kids.”
In 2009 she dipped her toes back into teaching, working part-time at Campion College, and by 2017, after working at various schools, Gina was back to Cobham School teaching full-time.
By the end of 2019 Gina had taken on the role of principal.
At many schools the principal's position is an administrative and managerial role. At a smaller school like Cobham, the principal is also a teacher.
The first thing Gina did was to organise a hui with all the whānau who sent their children to Cobham.
“I held a huge community consultation where I consulted with whānau and tamariki. This spanned out over a month.”
With values and direction set, the school now directs its resources with “whānau first” in mind.
“For me, that's what it has always been about right from when I started back in 1996. It's always been about whānau first.”
On top of that, overarching everything in the school is Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“Everything we do starts with the Treaty — it's in our planning and everything we do in the day.”
The classrooms have their own treaties set up with the “three Ps,” those being: participation, protection and partnership.
“Participation can be a little hard because sometimes they don't want to participate, but then I tell them, ‘Well hey mate, remember our treaty? You said you would participate.'”
Instead of the onus singularly sitting with the teacher, students bear some responsibility in the classroom.
Cobham has been through down days, but Ms Holmes says the school is going through a renaissance.
“It's picking up, although I don't want it to happen too fast. I like slow and steady because I want to be able to maintain and sustain what we do.”
The academic achievement levels at Cobham are not where the staff or the government would like them.
But for Gina, the answer is first to get the children to school and to build up their resilience, independence and self-esteem.
“In order for our kids to learn we need to work on our students' social and emotional wellbeing before we can tackle the academic side of things.”
This stance has not always gone well with those in the bureaucracy who measure success by test scores.
But change is happening and hope is there.
The experience of the teachers and students at Cobham School is a reminder.
“Gisborne remains a segregated city crisscrossed with invisible lines,” said Gina.
“You go to other schools and the day is different.”
During the pandemic, life was especially tough for some. Before the lockdown shut the doors on the school the Cobham staff took all the food supplies from the cupboards and prepared care packages for all the kura whānau and community.
“I wanted to be able to help remove some of the pressures put on our whānau.
“They had nothing to do, no wifi, no devices, so they couldn't do their school work online. It was ridiculous, the inequity of it all.
“The staff were great — the last couple of days that we had at school before we weren't allowed on-site, they did deliveries to houses all over.”
Meetings with management at other schools highlight the different pressures her school faces from the rest.
The job is tough but Gina has a secret weapon against burnout.
“I crochet,” she says pointing around the staffroom.
Colourful woollen blankets drape the couches in the room, in the classes, and all the pillows in sight are lovingly wrapped in wool.
She also maintains an Instagram page for her dog Maple Syrup.
“I think if my kids were little I don't think I could do this job — my youngest is 16 and the rest have all left home so they don't need me as much as they used to.
“I'm not as busy at home so I can throw myself into this job. I've done this for so long now I think it's become my norm.
“Everything I do, I live and breathe this school. I've been in this school long enough to see it change hands many times. I've seen the different versions of Cobham School.
“I've told the board, I'll give this school between five and 10 years — if I haven't made a difference then, I'm not doing my job properly and I'll leave.
“I am determined to make this school function like every other school — if not better.”
