Our People

Sue Ford Principal / senior class teacher

Kia ora Koutou. Welcome to the team at Lake Rotoiti School. It is a pleasure to be working in this wonderful environment with such an enthusiastic, forward thinking group of educators.
My role as Principal started at the beginning of 2018. Prior to this I was Senior Syndicate Leader and 'In School Specialist Teacher' at Nelson Central School. I completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Curriculum Leadership in 2015.
Prior to teaching I worked as a Veterinary Nurse and completed a diploma in Veterinary Nursing. I have always had a passion for animals and actively encourage children to respect and look after animals fairly.
I am very fortunate to have a wonderful and supportive husband Mike, who also happens to be an amazing Tenor Horn player. Together we have four gorgeous children. One lives in Sydney and the other three live in Dunedin. Two are still studying.
My passions include facilitating learning, building relationships with children, being smothered by pets, food, (creating and tasting), trail running, cycling, swimming and gym work. Add a little touch of gardening and I am good to go for another week.

Liz McCauley : junior class teacher

Kia ora, I’ve been the Junior classroom teacher at Lake Rotoiti School since the beginning of this year. It’s an absolute privilege to be teaching and learning at this amazing school and being part of such a special community. I have a Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (Primary) and spent time teaching at various Primary and Intermediate schools throughout Nelson. Last year, I completed a Certificate in Māori Foundation Studies (Level 3) Te Haeata – Pouako. This year I aim to complete a further Certificate in Te reo Māori, through NMIT.
A little about me; I was born and raised in Tauranga, brought up swimming at the best surf beach in NZ, sailing, playing every sport imaginable and always creating, drawing & painting. I’ve lived in numerous locations in New Zealand and overseas, travelling far and wide and have enjoyed a variety of careers. I have three children. Conor (21) lives in Auckland and is in his final year of a degree in Recording Arts, Flynn (18) is taking a gap year and working in Nelson and Sinead (16) attends Nelson College for Girls. I love animals, especially cats, in fact I’ve never not had a cat! We have lived in Nelson for almost 14 years.
I am passionate about anything to do with art. I paint, draw and create whenever I can and enjoy ‘repurposing and upcycling’. I am fascinated about history, spending time in libraries and museums and love researching and delving into the mysteries and stories from of my own family genealogy.
When I’m not in the classroom, we spend our time as a family walking and exploring, going on trips but most of all we love swimming and spending time at the beach. Of course nothing beats reading a great book!

Dan B : principal release teacher

Image to be created by Tamariki

Kia Ora, I’m Daniel and I’m very excited to say that I will be joining the team here at Lake Rotoiti School. I have recently graduated from the University of Otago with an undergraduate Bachelor of Science majoring in Oceanography and a postgraduate master’s in teaching and learning. I love teaching and learning, and my personal strengths are mathematics and the sciences. I enjoy all things outdoors ranging from tramping and skiing to scuba diving and fishing, if you spot me in the bush don’t hesitate to stop and say hello. I’m very excited to meet you all and hope we have a great year of fun and engaging learning.

fiona: bus driver

Fiona is our new bus driver. She has lived at the Lake forever and knows all about everything. She's pretty cool behind the wheel of the bus and makes sure we get to school on time. She lives in St Arnaud with her husband and he has a pretty cool job too. He looks after the Rotoiti Lodge Outdoor Education Centre.

tracy younger : office manager / accounts

I have been working at Lake Rotoiti School for over 6 years now. We moved to St Arnaud from the UK in 2002. I am married to Chris, who is the Head Chef at The Alpine Lodge and I have 3 children; Megan, who is 18 and is currently overseas, working in the UK; Charlie, who is 12 and goes to Lake Rotoiti School and Milo (our chocolate labrador) who is 6 and is best friends with Ruby the school dog. I enjoy holidaying and eating out and my favourite things are crisps and 'Coronation Street!'

Jan thomson : librarian

Hi, I’m Jan and I’m the school librarian. Well, I’m not really a librarian, I’m actually an artist. But once a week, before I open my studio, I wander down and work in the school library for an hour or two.

We moved to Rotoiti from Wellington about six years ago , and one of the first things we noticed was the school and its friendly kids. (In fact, our grown up kids wished that we’d moved here while they were still young enough to go to the school!)

I’ve always loved books, I enjoyed reading to our children, and now to our three grandchildren. And yes, I admit it…sometimes when I’m working away in the library I spot a favourite book and have to have a little read. So I’m proud to be part of the school team , encouraging another generation of readers to enjoy the magic of books. I look forward to meeting you….

gary and kirsten dick : The best Cleaners ever!!

Kirsten and Gary are our supreme cleaning machines. They keep our school so clean and never complain when we make a mess! We are so thankful for the hard work they do. Kirstens favourite past time is looking after a heap of dairy cows.

Brent: The best Maintenance Person ever!!

Brent is the person who sorts out the pool, mows the grass, picks up all the tyres we have played with, mends our fences and keeps our school looking as sharp as a tac. We love building huts with the grass Brent cuts (and with the tyres and wood). When he is not helping our school Brent is busy getting his house built.

Tilly : the dog

Hi, I’m Tilly and I hang out with the tamariki at Lake Rotoiti School. You could say that I’m the school pet. However I like to think differently. Lake Rotoiti is a great place to go if you want a nice midday snack, morning snack, afternoon snack or a snack at any time of the day. The nice kids are always leaving little tidbits on tables and under the carpet. No matter where you go there will always be something to eat. A bit of sausage, a slice of bread, even an old sock. Recently the older children have been cooking sausages on the barbeque. My favourite and I’m still working out how to sneak one. When the children all rush into the big kennels to be talked to, I like to sleep by the door, or under a table, maybe a chair, sometimes even in the staff kennel! Sometimes the head teacher feeds me vegetables - I just don’t see the point in them when you can have sausages or socks, and they taste absolutely revolting! I guess it might be time for a bit of history, although to be quite honest I would much rather sleep! I was born in 2009 into a litter of ten and at a young age I was transported to live with the Ford family. Nobody knows my identity - but people love guessing. They think I am a mix between Hunterway, Border Collie, Rhodesian Ridge back, some even say Kelpi. I like to keep everyone guessing. I come to school most days and I must say it is quite the snack bomb. (As told to Shepherd Joice!)