He said this week he had enjoyed his time at the "good little school".
"It’s a hard challenge because we are little, but when you’re meeting the challenge it’s a satisfying thing to do."
He said the nice part of the school was the fact it catered to all ages from primary through to high school.
Being flexible was a requirement of the school, which helped develop innovation, he said.
However, it had not been smooth sailing in his seven-year stretch at the school with the loss of three pupils who died in non-school-related incidents.
"We’ve had few students pass away which was particularly sad," Mr MacCreadie said.
The school also encountered change as the curriculum was updated, which Mr MacCreadie said was "painful".
Moving to Wellington would be a change and a challenge. The structure of management will be "quite different" from the structure at school, he said.
"It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve."
Mr MacCreadie said it was a "big, broad, wide-open horizon" as he tried to figure out how to make it work.
He and his wife, Tracy, originally decided to move to Owaka as they had family in Dunedin.
Over time, the family in the area moved so there was less of a reason to stay.
Mr MacCreadie’s final day at the school will be about December 14, to coincide with the end of the school year.
The school was still searching for a replacement for Mr MacCreadie to start in the new year.
His job with the Open Polytechnic starts on January 9.
