WHETHER it be removing frogs from the girls toilets, coaxing snakes out of the playgrounds or reviewing the school’s finances it’s all part of the job description for a principal of a small school.
But it’s a job, Andrew Morrow did not expect to be doing when he completed his teachers training, but it is one he has enjoyed doing for the past 10 years.
As principal of Mount Pleasant Public School Mr Morrow has come to see the great advantages of not only working in the small school environment but also what his students gain from attending a small, rural school.
“Parents are always looking for what’s best for their children when it comes to education and sometimes they may think large schools offer more opportunities and have more resources,” Mr Morrow said.
“And I have taught in the town’s largest primary schools but here at a small school we probably have more opportunities and more resources.
“But one thing I know for sure is that our students leave our school with inbuilt confidence and that confidence follows them into high school.”
With a school population that averages 60 students Mount Pleasant has three classes broken into K/1, 2/3 and 4,5/6.
The school is located in a picturesque rural environment with excellent grounds that are home to a great new covered sports area with marked tennis courts, basketball and netball courts.
The Singleton district is home to five small schools and it appears running these close knit units is a longterm position. Local identity Joy Poole ran Mount Pleasant for many years and Bob Nebauer had a similar long tenure at Kirkton Public School.
Mr Morrow, who grew up at Armidale, taught at schools in Lightening Ridge, Lismore and Walgett before arriving at Singleton in 1982.
After stints at Singleton Public School and Singleton Heights Public School he came as relieving principal at Mount Pleasant and simply stayed on in the position.
“Not many teachers these days get to be a teacher and principal at the same time so that’s one thing good about this job but you rely on good administrative staff to make sure you don’t forget about the paperwork required as a principal, ” he said.
One thing he really likes about the small school environment with its composite classes is the fact he can teach children over a couple of years.
“You get to know your students really well and sometimes it’s great to carry on the teaching the following year to complete some tasks and work on areas that needs improvement – let’s call it completing unfinished business,” he said.
“That’s not something you can do in the larger schools because you have a new class each year.
“However, by the time my students finish year six they are ready for the variety of teachers that come with going to high school.”
As a strong supporter of small is good Mr Morrow insisted that the opportunities at his school were second to none.
Because of our small numbers every student has a chance to participate in all the activities on offer be that leadership, sport, debating, cattle judging or chess competitions, he said.
“And in our system the sexes mix really well. They rely on each other to make up sporting teams for say the knock out competitions, he said.
“There is nothing like being in a team together to form great camaraderie among the students.”
As to concerns students from small schools find high school daunting, Mr Morrow dismissed such claims saying his students along with those from other district small school coped very well with the transition to secondary school.
“They have that great confidence and they have been used to working closely with adults at the school to achieve things and this bodes them well at high school.”
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