Aria School principal Pam Voyce will retire at the end of the year, after more than 50 years in local education. Photo: Supplied
As half a century of educating draw to a close, children remain at the heart of everything Aria School principal Pam Voyce does.
The 72-year-old will call time on her 54-year teaching career at the end of the year, 53 of which have been spent in Piopio and Aria.
Reflecting on her long-serving career, keeping children at the forefront remains Voyce’s priority.
“I did this for the kids – I don’t do it for the parents, I don’t do it for the community. I do it for the kids and it’s always been kids first,” Voyce said
“(Current Piopio College principal) Ben Draper, bless him, I taught him at Piopio Primary as a 10-year-old and he wrote me a letter when he went on to Piopio College and thanked me for all these amazing things I had no idea I’d done. You get those little letters or thank yous that are just gold.
“Then I go into something at Piopio College and all these 6ft 3inch kids come up and give you a great big hug and that’s all I need, is those kids that remember you and had good times with you,” she said.
After finishing her training at teacher’s college in Palmerston North in 1972, Voyce started teaching in Hawke’s Bay, before the Ministry of Education sign-posted her to a place called Piopio.
“That’s how I came to be here. I didn’t know where Piopio was, I had no idea at all. I was only going to be there five years, that’s what I said I’d give them,” she said.
Aria School principal Pam Voyce will retire at the end of the year, after more than 50 years in local education. Photo: Supplied
Originally from Levin, Voyce started at Piopio Primary School in 1974 and on her return from an overseas trip, transferred to Aria School in 1977 around the same time she married farmer Peter Voyce.
In those days, classroom sizes were bigger at a time when life was “much easier than it is today”, Voyce said.
“My first class at Piopio was 38 children, then I had 40 and then it went back to 36. You wouldn’t find a class that big anywhere in New Zealand now; most of our classes are in the lower 20s now,” Voyce said.
“The whole world has changed and the pressures on our parents and our kids these days. When we brought up our kids, all our mates were having kids. We had a great social life, it was easy peasy, there was no material things, it was all about being on the farm or fun and doing stuff together,” she said.
She stepped back from teaching upon the arrival of her and Peter’s first child in 1980 and spent the next 11 years relief teaching while raising her four sons.
In 1991, Voyce returned to Piopio Primary as assistant principal for five years, then jumped the fence to Piopio College for a year before settling at Aria School under principal Shane Ngatai in 1997.
When Ngatai finished up, Voyce took the reins in 2000.
One of her great passions was in the sporting realm, where she was a key driver in organising weekly triathlons, gymnastics, which included overseas trips to the Netherlands, Japan and Australia, and most recently, the Waitomo Primary Schools orienteering competition she started in 1998.
She also introduced the annual science fair, the school production and school camps to Northland, Rotorua and Motutapu Island near Auckland.
“They offer experiences the kids won’t do in their lifetimes; they won’t go to an island or go to the treaty grounds. I’ve tried to do those things that are a bit different to what the average family does,” Voyce said.
“I have had amazing staff and amazing beginning teachers. I don’t know how many I must have had – at least a dozen beginning teachers in that time,” Voyce said.
“That makes it easy because you’re working with a great team of positive people who love kids. You can’t go past that, and that’s been like that for 30 years.
The Aria School board of trustees will appoint a new principal in the coming weeks, with Voyce to assist her successor with a smooth transition into 2027.
