Dear Mt Macedon Primary,

I am delighted to be joining Mt Macedon Primary School as your new principal and look forward to meeting you all in person when I commence on Monday 20^th April. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all a bit about myself.

I have been teaching for almost 15 years and have taught in a wide variety of schools.  In fact I can say that in my teaching career I have had the privilege of teaching in both the smallest and biggest state schools, at the time I was there.  My roles in each school have been varied with me being a class teacher in all but the grade 4 year level; a music specialist; a teacher for students with special needs; and even a short stint as an Art teacher (which by the way is certainly not an area of expertise!).  At the moment I am Assistant Principal at Killara Primary School in Sunbury and have held this role for several years.

I see it as my responsibility to be involved in the wider education community and have also recently retired from being a councilor on the Mathematical Association of Victoria’s (MAV) council, serving as Vice President for the last two years.  I am still actively involved with the MAV and help convene a committee that organizes the Association’s Annual Conference.  The other major educational achievement I have had recently is to complete my Masters in School Leadership through the Department of Education and Monash University.

On a more personal note; I am married to Dale, who is an Engineer working for Ford designing cars and we have one son, Mackinley who is 7 months old.  We count ourselves lucky that Mackinley is a very relaxed baby who is happy to go along with the flow and he provides us with hours of entertainment.  At the moment we are convinced that he believes he can skip the crawling stage and go straight to walking because he is happiest when he is standing up leaning on either our couch or coffee table - with mum or dad’s arms not too far behind though!

One of my favorite things to do, when I get a chance to sit and relax, is to get a good book and read and I have quite a collection of both kids and adults books.  My favorite children’s book at the moment is the Michelle Paver ‘Wolf Brother’ series, while my favorite adult author would be Jodi Piccoult.  Another favorite would have to be Dr Suess’ ‘Yertle the Turtle’ because it’s Mackinley’s too - in fact he loves any Dr Suess books. 

Before Mackinley was born I also played netball regularly and, not so regularly, went to the gym or for a run.  I haven’t quite worked out yet how to fit exercise back into my routine - perhaps that can be a goal for the year?  The other thing that keeps me busy while I’m not at work is that I organize a youth group for children from year 6 to 8 every Friday fortnight in Sydenham.

This really just scratches the surface of who I am, so I encourage you to come up and say ‘hello’.  I plan on being out in the yard both before and after school and I’m always up for a chat - that’s why I love being out there!  If at any stage you want or need to have a longer conversation with me my door is always open so feel free to either pop your head in or organize an appointment with me.

While I aim to get to know all the students in the school very quickly, I would like to be able to say the same for their mums and dads and extended family too.I am really excited about coming to Mt Macedon and am looking forward to getting to know you all and working with you so we can continue to ensure that we are the best school we can be.

Regards,

Michelle Huggan.

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