Our People

COL Leaders

Tracy Richmond

Tracy Richmond was appointed to the Kahui Ako Leader’s role in May 2022; prior to this she was the Principal at Omakau School. Tracy has lived and worked in the Central Otago area for all of her career and is committed to excellent educational outcomes for all. She is keen to promote the collaboration between early childhoods, primary and secondary schools in our area to support and promote our kaiako and tamariki to be the very best they can be.

Sarah Graham

Sarah is principal at The Terrace School. She is a support principal for our Kāhui Ako.

Fiona Mackley

Fi is principal at Alexandra Primary School. She is a support principal for our Kāhui Ako.

Across School Leads

Sarah Sawers

Having taught at all levels of primary education, Sarah is currently the Year 4-6 Team Leader at The Terrace Primary School. She has a strong belief that relationships are integral to the learning process. Sarah is looking forward to engaging with other educators and sharing her professional learning. She is born and bred in Central Otago, married to Jeff and has 3 grown children.

Alistair Banks

Alistair is Central Otago born and bred and has previously been a Within School Lead at Clyde School. In 2019 Al took a sabbatical, focussing on 'Achieving success as Māori - how to best meet the needs of our local tamariki.' He also had the opportunity in 2020 to take part in the Science teaching Leadership Programme, of which a large part of the programme was Matauraka Māori, the Māori world view, along with a life changing marae stay as a guest of Ngāti Rangi at the foot of Mt Ruapehu.

Al is married with 4 children, and enjoys being involved locally with cricket, basketball, and curling.

Jo McKay

Jo teaches History and Social Studies at Dunstan High School and is a proud member of the Haast House! Jo has a passion for Project Based Learning and was lucky enough to study this in some depth due to the Dann Family Sabbatical in 2022. In 2023-4 Jo completed a Post-Graduate in Digital and Collaborative Learning that has fueled a real interest in AI. Jo wants to explore how Kaiako can leverage AI to reduce teacher workload and enhance the educational experiences of akonga. She is also looking forward to getting involved with all the kura in the Dunstan Kāhui Ako.

Within School Leads

Bronwyn Barnes

Bronwyn is the Within School Teacher at Dunstan High School with a focus on wellbeing. She holds the position of Head of the Arts Faculty and spends her days teaching music to Dunstan's fabulous ākonga. Bronwyn has always had an interest in wellbeing, although she cannot say she has totally mastered her own. She is endeavouring to make a positive difference in challenging times.

Rachel O'Connell

Rachel is an experienced classroom teacher who has taught all year levels from Year 0-Year 8 throughout Otago and parts of Southland. She is currently senior team leader and Year 8 classroom teacher at Alexandra Primary. Rachel enjoys connecting with other teachers and working collaboratively towards common goals. She is passionate about 'all things digital' and has an absolute passion for learning.

Ainsley McDonald

Ainsley moved to Alexandra from Invercargill in 2020 and teaches at St Gerards School. She has a springer spaniel dog called Albie and loves going for walks and swims at the lake with Albie. Ainsley has a passion for structured literacy and enhancing children's skills within this area. She believes all children can achieve success in reading and loves watching children grow and build their confidence in literacy.'

Megan Tyrrell-Ryder

Megan is the Deputy Principal at Clyde Primary School and teaches in the Years 1 and 2 class. She is an experienced teacher who, as the school’s SeNCO, has a wealth of knowledge and experience using UDL to support all learners. Developing and nurturing authentic relationships across the school community is a strength. She looks forward to working alongside her colleagues within the Kāhui Ako to support professional practice.

Megan loves living in Central Otago and, in her spare time, enjoys walking in the hills or along the river tracks.

Learning Support Co-ordinators

Debbie Smith

Debbie and her husband have recently moved to Clyde after falling in love with the town. Until the end of 2019 she was Principal of Musselburgh School, a role she held for 10 years. Throughout her career, Debbie has always had a passion for tamariki who find life and school a little tricky, whether they need support to develop their learning, or their social and emotional capabilities.

Kate Donaldson

Kate enjoys the role of Learning Support Coordinator positions and the impact she can have on the key stakeholders - tamariki, families/ whanau, teachers, other agencies and principal and leadership teams. Kate loves living in Central Otago and getting out and enjoying everything it has to offer with her young family.

Lisa Nevill

Lisa farms with her husband and two teenage boys in the Ida Valley and is passionate about ensuring the staff and students of our semi-rural and rural schools are not disadvantaged by their location! Being part of a dynamic and vastly experienced team supporting the Dunstan Kahui Ako is something Lisa enjoys.

Jason Barron (Dunstan High School)

Jason loves everything that Central Otago has to offer. Before getting into teaching, Jason was a youth worker in the Gore area for 6 years. He has a passion for supporting young people to be the best they can be, whatever that looks like for them. Jason is the LSC based at Dunstan High School and enjoys supporting tamariki in the Dunstan Kāhui Ako, especially those transitioning from primary to high school.

Caroline Hope (Dunstan High School)

Caroline has just moved to Dunstan High from Dunedin where she was an RTLB for the past 7 years. As an RTLB, Caroline was a facilitator for the Incredible Years Teacher Programme and a Bilingual Assessor. Caroline has a background as an ORS Specialist Teacher and ESOL programmes.

Ginny Cowie

Ginny moved to Alexandra from Southland, where she has spent most of her career working with tamariki in a Kindergarten setting. She enjoys engaging with tamariki, whanau and kaiako and together providing opportunities for tamariki to feel safe and supported in their learning environment and to be ready for learning, including a successful transition from early childhood settings.

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