On Wednesday of week 7, we were given the opportunity to switch places with Mr Pollard for the day. We had a great day and enjoyed walking around the school and hanging out with Maxi, and the Primary School kids. We are also quite sure that Mr Pollard had an interesting time attending our classes and walking around the school in uniform.

We especially enjoyed coming up with special events or activities for every area of the school. Some of our ideas included: extended recess and music for the Primary, hot chocolate and games in the Sports centre for Years 7 – 9, free coffee for the upper years and we opened up the T&E building as a common room for the day for Year 12 students. We also left a small gift for all the staff in the staff rooms as a way of saying thank you for all that they do for the students.

We had a few meetings and received a mountain of suggestions from both Primary and High School students. We are really looking forward to seeing how we can implement some new ideas and changes in the coming months.

Our first meeting for the day was with the Primary School Head Boy, Head Girl and the two Vice Captains. We had a long chat with them and they were full of new and innovative ideas. We talked about how the High School can be more involved in the Primary School and how we can help the current Year 6s transition up into High School next year.

After this meeting we had the chance to head up to the Primary School and chat to the lower years during their recess. As Principals for the day, we decided to extend the Primary School recess by 5 minutes and organised to have music playing through the speakers. This was a big hit with all of the students and we got lots of smiles and high-fives from them. We also got the chance to hear what many of the students wanted changed or improved on. The suggestion box in the Primary was a big hit and we received many suggestions from enthusiastic students. Most suggestions included playgrounds, more free dress days and having extended recess and lunch permanently.

As we both attended the LJBC Primary School, we had the chance to catch up with some of our previous Primary teachers and it was great to see how much the Primary School has expanded and improved since we were there.

We got to spend some of our free time in Mr Pollard’s office and we also made our way through his tea selections and chocolate supply.

We also walked around the High School and popped our heads into a few classes. We checked up on Mr Pollard in the classes he was sitting in and had a look at how he was going as well as the notes he was taking. The suggestion box in the High School gave us some insight into what most of the High School students were most concerned about. We also had interesting suggestions such as having surfing classes before school. Most suggestions centred around the school canteen, alternate uniform options such as ‘skorts’ and sport leggings and areas in the school that could be renovated or added to.

We were so excited to have Maxi tag along with us throughout the day and we even got to take her over to the Primary School cross country.

It was a very full day and we were so busy enjoying ourselves that we both forgot to eat lunch! It was, most definitely, an interesting experience for both of us and gave us an insight into the workings of the school and what a day in the life of a Principal looks like. We are grateful to Mr Pollard for coming up with this idea and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Justine and Todd 

Head Girl and Head Boy