Botany Downs Secondary College (BDSC) is losing a direct link to its origins with the retirement of its longest-serving staff member.
Deputy-principal Cornell Van Kralingen, 66, signs off permanently at the finish of this school term, ending a distinguished 42-year career in education.
“I contemplated retirement at 65 and didn’t feel ready,” he tells the Times.
“It caused me quite a lot of angst and to actually make the decision. But having processed it for a year, I feel much more reconciled this year.”
Van Kralingen joined as a foundation member of the BDSC faculty for the secondary school which opened in 2004.
Before arriving to teach in east Auckland, he’d been a teacher rising to senior ranks over 19 years at Manurewa High School.
“I saw the advertisement for a new college, the first new college in 28 years to be opened in Auckland,” he says, of BDSC’s beginnings.
He went to an information evening in a “packed hall” at Point View School.
“I saw a job straight away that was director of academic studies that really appealed.
“I applied, interviewed, and got the job. The rest is history. I’m the longest serving staff member here.”
Van Kralingen’s been a colleague of BDSC’s four principals – Rob McMurray, Mike Leach, Patrick Drumm, and present school leader Karen Brinsden, who he’s worked alongside for 30 years.
“My responsibilities primarily this year have been assessment and curriculum,” he says.
“I’m the principal’s nominee, have been for the last three years. It’s a designated position, working within the Qualifications Authority in terms of delivery of the exams.
“We have portfolios that we renegotiate every year, so we pick up all sorts of different portfolios. I’m a line manager for three departments and one of the whanau houses.
“Responsibilities vary, but mostly based around curriculum, assessment, and the heads of learning.”
Van Kralingen believes BDSC has “preserved its essential character” during his tenure.
“The fundamental philosophy of the school is the same. And some of the core staff are the same.”
He points to the school’s leadership “corridor” of offices where there are “three people who have been here since the start of the school”, who collectively contribute to the continuity of culture.
“The first year [2004] was a real blast. It was an amazing experience, and we all said in those first two years we would produce people that would go on and be recognised internationally, and that’s happened.
“We’ve had students who have gone out and made their mark in the world. We have amazing students here, no doubt about it. Kids you can just be truly proud of. Top-quality students all over the place.
“A number of kids I’ve had as students have said, ‘you taught my mum or my auntie or my dad’.
“That’s happened quite frequently over the past couple of years. That’s a good reason to retire,” Van Kralingen says, with a laugh.
“I’ve had students email who I taught 35 years ago.
“It’s cool, to get recognition from kids who you taught, in other schools and in other environments. It’s one of the privileges of being a teacher that students appreciate you.
“That’s one of the things I will miss. Contact with students and camaraderie with staff.”
After his own secondary school years as a student, Van Kralingen did a couple of stints of psychiatric nursing before teaching.
“As a summer holiday programme, they took on 12 university students, and I did that for two consecutive summers and decided I really enjoyed working with people.”
He trained at the Auckland Teachers Training College in Epsom, now known as a campus of Auckland University, after gaining a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree with honours.
His first teaching job was at Manurewa High in 1984, and he feels fortunate to have landed an appointment straight out of teachers’ training college because “there were no jobs in Auckland at that stage”.
“Everyone who was coming out of training literally went out to the provinces and all the experienced teachers came and filled the Auckland jobs.
“But I had done a practicum at Manurewa and the principal had been pleased with what I’d done.
“They offered me a social science job, which is my specialty. I was head of geography there after a few years and then became head of social sciences and then moved to head of curriculum and assessment.”
During his time at Manurewa High, he worked alongside former Pakuranga College principal Mike Williams, who passed away in November.
“I knew Mike very well. He was head of science when I was head of social sciences. We got on well. He was a great guy.
“I live in south Auckland in Hillpark and a lot of the students who I taught in that area of Manurewa I’ve seen in this [Botany] community and their children come to this school.
“I’m not saying that I’m done with teaching. I may yet pick up something in a teaching role, whether it’s short-term relief or even working with some of the education organisations.
“I haven’t ruled out anything yet, but I just want to try retirement first,” says Van Kralingen.
“I’ve been very thankful. I’ve got good health still. It’s one of the standing jokes that you can retire with 390 days of sick leave still because in teaching you accumulate it.”
