HAY Margaret A. [Mrs]
Secretary-Typist to Executive officer 1984 –
From the School Magazine
When Margaret first arrived, Dunedin State schools had a Board of Governors and the trendy ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’ idea was still on the horizon; King’s did not get its own individual Board of Trustees until 1989. It was then Margaret began her long stint as Secretary to the Board of Trustees as well as her other duties.
Margaret had arrived at King’s in 1984 from positions at Otago University in the accommodation office and secretary to the OUSA. King’s looks vastly different now from the way it looked then.Virtually nothing remains of the school Margaret started in and the change in technology has been equally dramatic.When Margaret started, she sat behind a type-writer, not a computer. In fact, part of her job was typing up this very magazine. King’s roll was tiny then, too, around 400, climbing to its peak of almost 1000 pupils in the mid 1990’s.
King’s has been “a great place to work” and Margaret says she has “always loved it”. It is “a happy school” and she feels she has been “lucky with all the Rectors” and “good Boards”; without doubt, they all feel the same about their Secretary.
With the increase of technology and the advent ofTomorrow’s Schools, Margaret’s job has become far more demanding. Parents, too, have much higher expectations of their son’s school now and the red tape involved in her job these days is ‘huge’.
Margaret’s commitment, integrity and skill can’t be matched. We’ve all marched into your office with our demands over the years, Margaret, usually expecting instant action, often because we weren’t as organised as you, and had left things until the last minute. When we deserved a kick in the pants we usually only got a quiet look and our quite unreasonable requests were met with your accustomed efficiency and good will. How we will cope now, we don’t know.Thank you and best wishes, Margaret; enjoy your retirement in Wanaka.
From November 19 2010 Kingsweek
Margaret Hay, Rector’s Secretary, Secretary to the Board of Trustees
and long serving staff member is soon to leave King’s. It seems hard
to imagine King’s without her but the time has come for Margaret
and her husband Ray to retire to Wanaka.
Margaret arrived at King’s almost 27 years ago from positions at
Otago University and here she has remained, very loyal to the staff,
parents and boys of King’s.
When interviewing Margaret for this article, it was clear she had only
kind thoughts and words for all of us who must have driven her to
distraction at times.
She has worked with 3 Rectors and one Principal and feels so lucky to
have had such good men and good Boards of Trustees to work with.
Margaret has seen massive change in her time here. Virtually nothing
remains of the school she first worked in and much of its technology
27 years ago would now not look out of place in a museum or with the
Amish. Margaret started with just a typewriter to help her.
Back in 1984 we didn’t have Boards of Trustees as we know them.
There was one Board of Governors, not parents either, who
controlled all Dunedin’s state schools. Margaret has been secretary to
every single King’s Board of Trustees…ever!
Margaret’s efficiency and support of staff are legendary. She has
remained completely unflappable and professional, in a position
where flappability might reasonably be expected to occur frequently,
given all our daft and untimely requests.