When Simon Huntly first arrived at Kildare Catholic College, it was in the middle of renovations.
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“One of first things that struck me was that it was the first or second year of the drought and there was consecutive 40 degree-plus days and the school wasn’t entirely finished with the makeover and we had bulldozers and scrapers,” he said.
“We had 900-and-something kids and no playground and I’m thinking ‘what have I got myself into here’.”
What Mr Huntly got himself into was a job he loved.
He arrived at the school 14 years ago as a house co-ordinator and PE co-ordinator, a role he filled for four years.
Now the assistant principal, Mr Huntly finishes on Friday as he heads to a new job at the Mount Carmel Catholic College near Camden.
Though sad to be leaving, Mr Huntly is going out on a high, having just received notification of his school’s HSC results.
“We had 65 band sixes. It’s the best result we’ve ever had,” Mr Huntly said.
“The students can all breathe a big, juicy sigh of relief.”
The arrival of the students’ result by email or via their smart phones was a big change to the day when Mr Huntly’s own results arrived.
“I was fighting bushfires out at Ivanhoe when mine turned up in the post,” he said.
Growing up at Ivanhoe meant Mr Huntly was schooled at Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes.
His university days were spent in Wollongong.
It was while he was teaching at St Gregory’s College at Campbelltown that Mr Huntly saw a job advertised at a new school in Wagga.
That school was Kildare Catholic College, which was created from what was previously three schools: St Michael’s boys high school, Mt Erin girls’ high school and Trinity, which had catered to senior students only.
“Coming back here was a bit of a step out of the hustle and bustle of Sydney,” Mr Huntly said.
“We had a couple of young kids, Alexandra and Georgia.
“I just applied for a job and got it. It’s been great. My kids went to school here.”
Alexandra is currently studying at the University of Canberra and Georgia is a Wollongong-based primary teacher.
The move by Mr Huntly and wife Liz will bring them closer to not only their daughters, but also Mrs Huntly’s family.