There was no time for Chami (Chamindika) Hutterd to ease into her role as the new Assistant Head of Secondary (Innovative Practice and Strategy) at St Andrew’s College, given her responsibilities include responding to the challenges presented by COVID-19.

“A big part of my role is ensuring the College has the systems and processes in place to enable teachers to deliver the teaching and learning programme in the best possible way, whatever the impact of the pandemic. My first job was to set up our Continuous Learning Plan, figure out what it looks like for teachers and students, the practices we needed to put in place, and how we could leverage technology to support it.”

At the start of the year, Chami did considerable research into what was happening in schools overseas, and talked to teachers about how the current systems could be more effective for them. She also pondered the many eventualities that would crop up with the rapidly escalating Omicron outbreak. These included the delivery of both in-person and remote learning, and how these would be impacted when a number of teachers and students were away from school.

Prior to joining St Andrew’s, Chami, who is a well-respected, forward-thinking, problem solver with strong technical capabilities, was the establishing leader of Maukatere Technology Centre in North Canterbury, which included setting up and establishing the tikanga of the Centre. Previously, she was High School Technology Co-ordinator at the International School of Kuala Lumpur where she taught for several years. Chami, her husband, and their three children, returned to New Zealand just over two years ago, after working overseas for 12 years.

Chami is enjoying the environment, team culture, and her role at St Andrew’s College, which is about more than just the COVID-19 response, she says. “I’m looking forward to working on lots of other initiatives to progress learning experiences of our students.”