It is with sadness I learnt of the death of Don McLay who was Amberley School’s principal from 1987 to 1997.

Don who was 83 died on the 21st October at Whakatane where he and his wife Val had retired to. Prior coming to Amberley he was principal of Hanmer Springs School.

Over the years I have kept in touch with Don and Val and was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call from him on the occasion of my retirement from full time teaching. There are some parents at our school today who will remember being taught by Don.

Don was a teaching principal which meant he taught the Year 7/8 class for three days and worked in the office for two days per week. In his time the school only had six classrooms with most teachers having over 30 students in their classes, some even having 36 students. One year I can remember having 32 NE/Yr 1 students in my class for the last term of the year. Don lead the school through the education changes that occurred with Tomorrow Schools which came into effect in 1988. Along with his Board of Trustees he worked tirelessly to write all the policies and procedures each school was required to have.

Don lead the school in a quiet, calm, well organised way and he was greatly respected by the teachers, students and parents. In the mid 90s the government brought in bulk funding for schools and most schools rejected it, however, Amberley accepted it and received about $60,000 for making this decision. Bulk funding did not happen, but our payment enabled the BOT to buy and relocate a building for a school hall. Rewi Alley Hall was an amazing asset for us and was on site and in use just prior to Don’s retirement. The staff and students were delighted - no more outside assemblies, or all being squashed into a classroom!

In closing I would like to say that all those who knew Don greatly admired and respected him. The school community were saddened when he decided to retire from teaching and they gave him a wonderful farewell.

Rest in Peace Don.