Pauline Cornwell

Principal

A little about me and my time at Papatoetoe Intermediate School:
I had my first year teaching at Papatoetoe West School (in standard 3) and in my second year teaching was a foundation teacher at Bader Intermediate.  I went on to spend 26 years as a classroom teacher in mainly low decile schools in South and Central Auckland and have loved every minute of it.

I have been in senior leadership positions at schools for about 15 years and while I miss time spent every day with children I hope that my work makes a real difference to how our students experience school and ‘learning’.

I am passionate about all aspects of éducation’and have experience and qualifications in Early Childhood Education, Primary and Adult Education.

I homeschooled my own three children.  I am a strong supporter of ‘whanau as first educators’.

2021, will mark, for me, 40 years of teaching.

My vision and hopes for our school/my class:
Our students are already clever, powerful and competent, our job is to provide them with opportunities to show it and grow it; to help them ówn it and realise their potential.

A bit more about me:
I was born on a remote island in the Solomon Islands and came to New Zealand to attend school as a five year old.  I have three children; one is a teacher, all have attended Auckland university.  My eldest son lives with me and my daughter lives in London.  I love to travel and have missed visiting her due to COVID.

In 2018 I was awarded a Sabbatical Scholarship and, with other leaders from our school visited schools in Samoa, Fiji, Rarotonga and Tonga – it was a wonderful and humbling experience.  I believe that we are never too old to learn new things, never too young to be expert and wise.

I love working at Papatoetoe Intermediate School – we have a vibrant and caring community who want the very best for all of our children.