President's Welcome

Welcome to SPANZ, the only independent organisation representing New Zealand secondary principals, and a proud member of the International Confederation of Principals (ICP).

I have the privilege of being the President of SPANZ, which offers professional support for secondary principals. I have been a principal since 2012 and the principal of Papatoetoe High School since 2016.

I know how important it is to have the support of, and share expertise with, colleagues as well as the value of the collective voice that SPANZ brings to the education sector. Whether it is contributing to government policy or implementation, negotiating collective contracts, or working with students and communities, there is great value in belonging to an association where the membership and leadership remains grounded in the daily reality of leading secondary schools.

Having an organisation representing secondary principals helps to make the role of the principal more manageable and sustainable, and provides continued opportunities for our membership to actively engage in the ever evolving shape and design of education in New Zealand.

SPANZ’s mission is simple: to support secondary school principals in their work. SPANZ is in fact two separate organisations, SPANZ Professional of which I am the president and SPANZ Union which is led by Scott Haines.

SPANZ Professional has three main functions:

• Legal Support;

• Professional Development; and

• Professional Representation.

The main part of SPANZ Professional is focused around representing principals and making their working lives easier. Our website outlines these services and how we are here to help and support principals.

If you would like to find out a bit more, we encourage you to make contact with the team in the SPANZ office who are there to help however they can.

Ngā mihi

Vaughan Couillault
SPANZ President

Regular updates of the President’s Comment can be found here