Ruapehu College has welcomed former student Kris Vine (centre) as its new principal. Photo / Ruapehu College
Ruapehu College has welcomed former student Kris Vine (centre) as its new principal. Photo / Ruapehu College
Ruapehu College’s new principal Kris Vine feels like it’s a “homecoming” to be appointed after many years away.
Vine was offered the role of principal for the college in December and a pōwhiri was held on January 29 to welcome him and new students to the school.
He was astudent of the school in 2004-05 before moving to Rotorua Boys’ High School for his final three secondary school years.
Vine was born and raised in Waiouru, where his parents still live.
After completing his studies at Massey University, Vine worked at Rotorua Boys’ for four years, completing his teaching diploma online through Victoria University.
In 2018, Vine took a job teaching maths and physical education at Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch.
Vine stayed eight years at Shirley Boys’, taking on the roles of house dean and director of rugby before being appointed assistant headmaster in his final year.
Vine said it had been “a bit of a whirlwind” from applying for the Ruapehu job to starting in such a short time but it was an honour to take on the role.
Vine applied thinking he would learn the process of becoming a principal and what he needed to improve on to be successful in future applications.
“But, sure enough, the board at Ruapehu were confident that I was ready and I got the confidence from [Shirley Boys’ headmaster] Tim Grocott to say yes and give it a crack so here I am, learning on the job, but it has been good so far,” Vine said.
Vine said his former school had not changed too much, which he liked.
“It’s a small town feel; the kids are very similar from what I remember – very sporty and energetic – so not a lot has changed,” he said.
“I came back because I enjoyed it so the fact that it hasn’t changed too much is quite comforting.”
He said it had been nice to reconnect with some of the families and friends he grew up with.
“My family has been in this community for a long time so when everyone saw the name ‘Vine’ as principal, I got a rush of messages and old friends and family names coming up to see me,” Vine said.
Vine has spent the past eight years at Shirley Boys' High School in Christchurch. Photo / NZME
Returning to Ruapehu College was not something he thought would happen after becoming comfortable in all-boys schools.
“We often encourage our students to get out of their comfort zones to improve themselves so, when this job came up, it got me thinking really hard about what I want to do and what things I need to do to push myself,” he said.
“I knew the community, it’s a small school and it gave me a chance to step into the co-educational world.”
