The Papanui High School associate principal and her partner Andrew Carswell had been searching for a more rural lifestyle for a while, and when the principal’s job at Waimate High School was advertised she thought, ‘‘wow, this is perfect’’.
Ms Hunnikin will start as the Waimate secondary school’s principal in term 1 next year, taking over from Janette Packman who is leaving after 15 years in charge.
It will be a stark change for Ms Hunnikin — Papanui has a roll of about 1600 pupils while Waimate only has 284 — but moving to a smaller school was appealing.
‘‘I like that kind of idea of being part of a strong community, I get to know all of the kids and all of the families,’’ Ms Hunnikin said.
‘‘I’m just looking forward to getting to know the community in Waimate.’’
Originally from Birkenhead in England, Ms Hunnikin trained as an engineer and worked for Unilever as an engineer and then in packaging. It was a great job, but ‘‘it just wasn’t me’’, she said.
‘‘I felt there was something else that I could do.’’
She retrained as a teacher age 30 and taught for three years in England before moving to Christchurch for a different lifestyle.
Once in New Zealand, she ‘‘never wanted to return to England’’, she said.
She taught at Hillmorton High School for 15 years, starting as a physics teacher and doing nearly ‘‘every job’’, working up to being acting principal for a term before moving to Papanui High School as an associate principal more than two years ago.
Ms Hunnikin and Mr Carswell raised calves in Selwyn and were looking forward to finding some land in Waimate, she said.
Mr Carswell, also a teacher, would take up a job at Timaru’s Mountainview High School.
‘‘I can’t wait to get down there,’’ Ms Hunnikin said.
‘‘Everything’s lining up nicely for us.’’
