So how much would you bid to be principal of a school?
A bidding war between two devoted mothers who wanted their daughters to be principal for the day turned out to be of great benefit to Point View School.
After outbidding each other at the school’s fundraiser at the recently-hosted Twilight Market, the mums realised that things were getting a little out of hand and decided to stop bidding at $500 each.
The end result–the principal’s hot seat was auctioned for a cool $1000 with eight-year-olds Irene Arora and Panya Sethi both getting to play principal for the day.
When the Times visited Point View School on Thursday it was lunch time and both the young principals for the day were being accompanied by deputy principal Andie Pirie as they headed to the school staff room.
Having finished half a day of being head of school both Irene and Panya were thrilled to be served a free lunch of potato veggies with fruit nuggets and brownie bites.
“We started the day with welcoming children in front of the school gate…just like our principal Mr Robin Kirkham does every morning,” says Irene, dressed in a formal jacket and boots.
“We also did class visits, gave away certificates to students and did Jump Jam for fitness.”
Panyam dressed in a frock with party shoes, says one of the highlights was signing school cheques for power and water.
The school accountant photocopied cheques for phone and power bills and got the girls to sign them.
“We also did a school inspection round and found some nails sticking out of the wood in the middle playground. The principal got it fixed immediately,” she says.
The principals for the day were even interviewed by the school media team. Both Emilia Reghenzani and Hayden Potter from Year 6 had some hard questions to ask.
Talking about the best part of the day, Panya said it was the free lunch they received.
Irene concedes that the principal’s job is rather complicated and she acknowledges how tough it can be.
There were still emails to be sent to all the teachers and lots of reading, maths and work study to be done, she says.
