Huntingdon Public School has a knack for attracting staff who just love their job. The small school just outside Wauchope is an idyllic setting to inspire and educate young minds but teaching principal Peta Harris says it’s getting to know ‘these little human beings’ that is the best part of the job.

When you spend time with the same people almost every day, you get to know them well. For teachers, the people they spend each day with are children in the developmental years of their lives.

‘You feel like you are part of their life. You are part of their growing up. You’re influencing them in their decisions and their thought processes - they become a part of your family in a way because you are with them every day’.

Peta is Wauchope born and bred and is delighted to be teaching in her home town. After Peta graduated with honors in a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching, Peta was targeted for a teaching role in the NSW town of Deniliquin.

It was a long way from home for the top 10% in NSW graduate, but Peta taught in Deniliquin for 5 years before the pull of the Hastings grew too strong and she returned home to Wauchope.

After 18 months at Telegraph point, Peta took a position as Assistant Principal at Crescent Head and held this position for almost 10 years. Following Gunnar Fuhrmann’s retirement at the end of Term One in 2017, Peta applied for and was successful in becoming, the new principal of Huntington Public School.

Peta’s first focus in her new role has been to create a lovely smooth transition to a new Principal to ensure the community, students, staff and parents continue to feel safe and valued - something Huntingdon Public School is renowned for.

After two terms in the hot seat, Peta has now shifted focused to how Huntingdon Public School will support learners in the 21st Century to be independent problem solvers and thinkers and drive themselves forward in their learning.

‘Everything is changing so much in education which is exciting but we need to look at ways to develop our teaching skills to support these changes. We are all on a learning journey’

There is a lot of reform happening in education.

Peta explains that the focus now is on teaching self direction and teaching children to be driven to achieve. Peta says the days of teaching to the middle of the class are past. We are in a new era where every class is tailored to individual learners.

‘You may have some children learning in a small group on the floor while some students work independently at a desk or at computers...and others walking around the room or even outside gathering the resources they need’. It’s a really busy, different classroom these days. It’s not the traditional sit down with your pen and paper and write’.

Like Gunnar Fuhrmann before her, and the rest of the teaching team at Huntingdon, Peta puts in very long hours and is delighted to do so.

‘It is normal because it’s not just our job, it’s our life and we do everything we can to support our students to achieve’.