New title, familiar face | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

INGLEWOOD Primary School’s new principal isn’t really new at all – she’s been at the school, in the role of associate principal, for seven years.
Karen Patterson was thrilled to be appointed as principal when former head Gordon Terrill left.
“It’s my seventh week as principal and I’m still getting that ‘woo-hoo’ buzz,” she says.
Mrs Patterson came to Taranaki seven years ago from the East Coast, where she’d moved into teaching as a mature student.
“I had a different position in life, but I was always involved with schools as a parent helper, and one of the teachers asked me why I didn’t consider teaching. I went and worked as a teacher aide and just loved it.”
The next few years were somewhat hectic as she enrolled at Massey University and plunged into university study, alongside caring for her four children and renovating the family’s home. She undertook placements at various Central Hawke’s Bay schools during her training, and was offered a number of jobs when she graduated.
Some years into her teaching career, her husband, Paul, was offered a job in New Plymouth, so they decided to shift across the island. They still live in New Plymouth, where Paul is a crewman with the rescue helicopter service.
Karen worked at Bell Block School in different roles for seven or eight years until being appointed as deputy at Inglewood Primary School in 2003.
“Gordon was just fabulous, a great person to work for. I made no secret that I wanted my own school one day and he let me ‘play’ in his patch quite a bit, I was very privileged.”
Inglewood Primary School has a roll of 352 students from years 1 to 8.