Peter Hillgrove is the sort of person every east Auckland school would love to have on its board of trustees.
The beloved, experienced, and highly respected board member at Farm Cove Intermediate School, who’s affectionately known as ‘Property Pete’, is stepping down from the role after almost 30 years.
The school’s staff put on a special morning tea on Friday, August 29, to celebrate his contributions.
A key part of his role has been to oversee the development and modernisation of the school’s buildings.
Principal Tamara Jones describes Hillgrove as a “legend” who’s part of the school’s family.
“Pete is our person who I can rely on, at any time, to call if I need help with something or what’s happening with the [school’s] property.
“He’ll often come in for a cuppa and come to the staffroom. He always comes and talks to the staff and thanks them for their hard work.”
Despite Hillgrove retiring from the school’s board, Jones says she expects and hopes he’ll always be around.
“We call him ‘Property Pete’ because if anything is happening around the [school’s] property, Pete will let us know.
“Pete’s part of our whanau. Everyone knows Pete around the school and loves having him around.
“He looks after the staff so they can do the best job for the children, and you can’t ask for more than that from a board member. His support has been incredible.”
Hillgrove has a strong personal connection with Farm Cove Intermediate School as his daughters attended the school.
“They left and I stayed on,” he says. “My role was to make sure the grounds and the buildings were safe for everybody.
“I got involved with the school’s sports day, when they have the big run around the block, and sports days at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
“I’ve also been involved with school camps to Camp Adair and stayed there to support the staff and pupils.
“I enjoyed it and got to help with meals at nighttime.
“I’m in [Hato Hone] St John and used to help with cross countries and patch up store blisters and that type of stuff.
“We did cool discos, and I loved the graduations, where the kids throw their hats up in the air, and we’d have pizzas and dancing afterward.”
Hillgrove says the teachers at Farm Cove Intermediate School give “110 per cent-plus” and he’s loved working alongside them.
“They’re a fantastic group. They get in there and help with whatever needs to be done to improve the children’s learning.
“This school gets behind the teachers and gets them to develop themselves as well.
“We’ve seen our teachers move on and get promotions to other schools and move up the ladder.”
An emotional Hillgrove says it’s going to be “bloody hard” for him to step down from the school’s board and he’s going to miss the role, as well as the teachers and pupils.
“I love this school.”
