Ms Holland, now in her 14th year as a school principal and third at St Joseph’s, was one of a group of principals from NSW and Queensland to converge on Armidale recently for a leadership program.

The principals were taking part in the Small School Leadership Program, a program delivered by the Queensland Education Leadership Institute.

“It was great – we were looking at leadership in small schools,” Ms Holland said.

“Small schools tend to have particular leadership challenges that can be unique to rural areas.

“We looked at what leadership means and focused on how to engage parents and staff in a collaborative way,” she said.

The course opened her eyes and allowed her an insight into the inner workings of fellow schools, here and abroad.

“We saw that there are international trends with the challenges we face,” she said.

“It helped us to form networks with schools in different areas but with the same challenges. It’s excellent looking at and knowing what other schools are doing.

The three-day session in Armidale was part one in a 12 month program, which draws on the latest education research and “equips principals with the skills and tools they need to improve learning opportunities”.

“One of the key challenges of the small schools course was the need to refocus the role of being a principal. This refocus came in the form of challenging principals to move from being managers to being leaders of learning,” Ms Holland said.

“Annual school plans, annual school reports, WHS financial management, the development of policies and procedures all have their place in making sure schools are safe and supportive environments for everyone. All of these however take the principal away from the core role they have of leading the learning.

“The course provided a time to reflect on the nature of small schools,” she said.

Ms Holland has a history working within the constraints small schools often pose.

“My first teaching job was over in New Guinea,” she said.

“I was there for 18 months and it was a very unique experience.

“There were three other teachers – all Australian. We were teaching English to kindergarten and it was their second language – the culture was so different.”

Upon her return she worked in Campbelltown before moving to Bingara and Warialda and then eventually on to Tenterfield.

Settled and looking ahead to the remainder of the year Ms Holland said she was very content with life in Tenterfield.

“I love having a staff, other schools we didn’t really have staff – it’s nice to share the job with other people,” she said.

Having dusted themselves off from celebrating Senior’s Week and Catholic Schools Week, Ms Holland said everyone at St Josephs were now preparing for the rest of 2014 after the Easter break.