2005 deputy principal Lara Syddall farewell: 15th April

Lara Syddall commenced duties as a beginning teacher at Campbells Bay School on 28 January 1993, making her the sixth longest serving member of the Campbells Bay School staff at the time of her departure. Lara has made a profound and positive impact on the school, particularly since being appointed to the role of deputy principal in mid 2002.

To borrow from JFK: There are two types of people in this world. Those who stand on the sidelines and wonder why, and those who roll their sleeves up and ask why not? Lara is quite clearly of the latter persuasion. She never misses an opportunity to contribute. Looking back over Lara's time as deputy principal the theme that has underpinned her tenure has been one of commitment, contribution and on-going dedication to self-improvement and the improvement of others. When combined with her outstanding people skills these traits have resulted in an unbeatable combination.

Lara has been pivotal in driving the improvement of student achievement at our school. She has achieved this through curriculum support in terms of programme design and professional development. Most noteworthy has been her leadership in student assessment. Not only has Lara been the leader of assessment at our school, she has achieved national prominence. I have letters on file from the Ministry of Education and Auckland University, thanking her for her contribution to the implementation of the asTTle (student assessment) programme. Lara has spoken at conferences and seminars on asTTle. She was responsible for the Minister of Education visiting our school last year to view for himself asTTle in action and she has been on the Ministry of Education's asTTle advisory committee.

While working so hard and effectively at school, Lara also found time to graduate earlier this week with her Master of Education Management with honours. Given her workload and family commitments, this was a truly outstanding achievement. While Lara has excellent technical skills and her quick mind seems to be able to absorb and process complicated technical jargon with ease, she is no computer nerd. Her pastoral care, whether it be when dealing with students, staff, parents or members of the wider community is never less than superb.

At times I wonder, as I am sure you have, just how Lara is able to stay serene while dealing with so many issues (successfully) at the one time. Lara, we will miss your dedication, talent and humanity. Thank you for your superb contribution to the school since 1993. You have been a tower of strength over the years and you leave very large shoes to fill. Our loss is most definitely South Korea's gain.