New Cashmere High School principal ‘incredibly qualified’

Friday, 26 July 2024

Cashmere High School has announced a new principal following the resignation of Joe Eccleton.

Mount Albert Grammar School deputy principal John Stradwick will take up his new role in Christchurch at the beginning of term four, the school announced on Facebook.

Cashmere board chairperson James O’Connell said a “significant list of applicants” from across New Zealand applied for the position, but Stradwick stood out from the get-go.

“You really couldn’t get a more experienced deputy principal in the country in terms of readiness for our school.”

Stradwick was “incredibly qualified”, holding large portfolios at Mount Albert, one of the second largest schools in the country, he said.

“He’s coming into an environment where he’s going to be very comfortable.”

O’Connell said he looked forward to welcoming Stradwick and his wife and three sons to Christchurch and the wider Cashmere community.

Stradwick was head boy at Mount Albert in 1993, returning to the school in 2018 after a stint as deputy principal at Ormiston Junior College, also in Auckland.

Before that he spent five years leading Metro Delhi International School in India.

Stradwick has a master’s degree in educational leadership and a bachelor’s in history and art history.

Eccleton was earlier this year unveiled as the new principal of Christ’s College.