Moving On2 min read

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Marcellin Principal Dean Wearmouth is moving to a new job at the end of the third term, as . He has been appointed as the founding principal of St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College in Drury.

Unlike the traditional Marist Catholic Schools, St. Ignatius will be the first Jesuit- inspired high school in New Zealand. Construction has just started and it is due to open at the start of 2024.

Dean took over at Marcellin at fairly short notice after his predecessor Jan Waelen was suddenly asked to take over McAuley High School in Otahuhu in 2019. Fortunately, Dean had been part of the school’s senior management team for some years, so it was initially a smooth transition, though he had.
But he had barely taken over when he was faced with Covid lockdowns.

Dean says the last two years have been a huge challenge for everyone at Marcellin. “The education landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years,.” he says, a Adding that Marcellin hashey have had to make a lot of changes to their systems.

Perhaps the biggest change has been the school realising they needed a sharper focus on quality education over quantity. Consequently, senior students’ workload has been reduced from having seven core subjects to five.

Dean says building a new school from scratch is an exciting challenge. He adds that with the strong senior management team at Marcellin, also meant he felt he could move on without it causing too much disruption. “We’ve got some really good leaders at the school who will continue to grow it.”

As for his time at Marcellin, Dean says he has been lucky to be part of a great community. , adding that hHe is also pleased to see how all the local colleges, not just Marcellin, have seen growth in their reputations for excellence over the last few years and he is proud to have played a role in that growth.

Dean says he will be talking a lot from Marcellin to his new post. In particular, he wants to replicate the ‘family’ spirit of the school and the way there is a sense of belonging among the staff and students. Another of Marcellin’s strengths he plans to copy is the importance of celebrating all the different cultures in the community and making everyone feel valued for who they are.