The Saint Kentigern Trust Board has great pleasure in announcing the appointment of Mr David Hodge, M.A. (Honours), M.Ed. (Honours), currently Principal of Rangitoto College, to the newly created position of Head of Saint Kentigern, effective from the beginning of Term 2 this year. 

In making this appointment, the Board was fortunate to have a very strong field of candidates with experience, talent and expertise. The Board believes that Mr Hodge has the professional and personal qualities, aligned with Saint Kentigern’s vision and values, to provide outstanding leadership.

Mr Hodge has considerable experience in the education sector and is held in high-regard by his peers. For the last eleven years, he has been Principal of Rangitoto College, a Decile 10 school on the North Shore; the largest and one of the most successful coeducational schools in the country. During his tenure, Rangitoto College has enjoyed unprecedented improvement in its academic performance, as well as excelling in co-curricular activities.  Prior to this, Mr Hodge had a most effective period as Principal of Tamaki College, a Decile 1 school in Glen Innes, raising the profile and driving exponential improvement in the educational performance of the school. Whilst at Tamaki College, he was recipient of a Woolf Fisher Fellowship.  

Mr Hodge is also actively involved in wider educational circles. He is a Board member of the Global Connections International Principals’ Group; an educational leadership organisation of 100 school leaders worldwide that promotes an international exchange of ideas on excellence in education. He is also a Board member of the AUT Millennium Operating Trust and was a member of the Education NZ Advisory Committee. In addition to this, he has been a presenter, facilitator and mentor in the New Zealand First Time Principals training programme, part of the Reference Group for the Ministry of Education's e-learning policy, and the University of Auckland's research into school leadership.

The appointment of the Head of Saint Kentigern concludes a restructuring of the organisation that has been under rigorous review by the Board over the course of the last year, since Head of College, Mr Steve Cole indicated his intention to retire from the teaching profession this year.

Under the new structure, following Mr Cole’s retirement, the position of Head of College will be disestablished. From the beginning of 2017, the former positions of Heads of Senior and Middle Schools at the College will be renamed, Principal Middle College and Principal Senior College, with their roles moving towards a full responsibility principalship. Mr Duncan McQueen (Middle College) and Mrs Suzanne Winthrop (Senior College) have been appointed to these roles. They, along with the Principals of the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, Mr Peter Cassie and Ms Juliet Small, will report to the new Head of Saint Kentigern. Mr Hodge will have oversight of all four schools on the three campuses with responsibility for providing excellence in the education of over 2750 students, including pre-schoolers, across the Saint Kentigern organisation. 

Mr Hodge is married to Maggie Winterstein, a barrister and youth advocate, and has two adult and two school aged children. He is looking forward immensely to the challenge of this newly created role, ‘I am honoured and humbled to be given the responsibility to lead Saint Kentigern in its journey to even greater excellence, and to working with the Board in realising their vision for Saint Kentigern as a world leader in education. I believe my experience has prepared me for the challenges of this unique leadership role.’  

The Trust Board is confident that Mr Hodge will provide robust and effective leadership for Saint Kentigern as it continues to build on the strong foundations and achievements of the past 63 years of Independent Education. Trust Board Chairman, Dr Bruce Goodfellow said, ‘We are very fortunate to have an appointee with such a record of distinguished educational leadership and international recognition for his work.  Mr Hodge’s appointment will take us towards our goal of further developing and maintaining an outstanding group of schools to serve our Saint Kentigern families.’ 

‘As we move into the next chapter of Saint Kentigern, we acknowledge the dedication and hard work that Head of College, Mr Cole has given to Saint Kentigern over the last seven years. We thank him for his service and look forward to farewelling him at an appropriate time.’

Fides Servanda Est

Dr Bruce Goodfellow
Chairman of Saint Kentigern Trust Board

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