ERICA Thomas was looking for a new challenge when she took the helm at Newcastle Grammar School.
"I thought it was absolutely a wonderful opportunity and I was looking for something outside of Sydney," said Ms Thomas, who eight years later is feeling "pretty emotional" about leaving the role on December 15 to lead Kincoppal-Rose Bay.
"I believed that when I saw it the school was doing very well but I felt as well like I could probably make a bit of a difference."
She had been deputy and acting principal at Queenwood in Mosman when she and her husband moved to Newcastle in July 2014 before she started in September.
She was the first female leader in recent times and replaced Alan Green after 25 years.
"There hadn't been a lot of change in this school for a long time, so that always comes with a special responsibility," she said.
"The staff weren't used to change, the students weren't used to change, yet I'm looking at this school in 2022 and it's so vibrant, it's so modern and what our staff and students are achieving is just exceptional.
"I've been able to really create something here but I've also had a great team around me and that's been part of the joy, to be honest."
Ms Thomas' tenure hasn't been short of challenges. She guided the school through "three really complex years" of COVID-19 and a cyber attack in 2020 in which 70 families' data was stolen.
"We monitored the dark web for 12 months afterwards and nothing appeared," she said. "It was the same group that attacked us as Medibank."
There was also a staff restructure in 2017.
"That was hard, it was hard on people and I didn't lose sight of that, but that has changed the nature of the school for the better."
She said highlights included how the school managed COVID-19, its centenary in 2018, its production of Wicked in 2021, sporting success and seeing individual students grow.
"I'm so proud of the school and where it is and some of the things the school offers; our global vision; the wellbeing program; the results our students get; our staff who speak at national and international conferences; and what we've become in the region, as an educational voice - there's so many things about this that makes it very, very hard to leave," she said.
"The relationships you form in this job are the most meaningful things.
"I could list achievements, of kids who have excelled in NAPLAN or gone off to do amazing things, but it's not about that, it's about those relationships."
Ms Thomas said the decision to leave had been "heartbreaking", because she had invested so much of herself in the role and relished her staff.
She said she hadn't been planning to leave in the near future and hadn't seen herself departing to go to another school, but needed to return to Sydney for "family reasons".
"I don't want to retire at this point and when this opportunity came up it was something I really felt I could do - and I hope I do it really well as well."
She said she was leaving the school in a "wonderful position".
"I don't believe in overstaying in a role like this because I think schools have to continually grow and it's really important new blood and new people are able to perhaps see where it's now standing - like I did years ago - and then take it to another level."
Ms Thomas said there was a weight of responsibility that came with steering one of the region's most exclusive schools.
"When you talk about the school and what it means I've never felt the school is an elite school that sits on The Hill, I've always realised its importance to the community that it serves," she said.
"Many parents work extremely hard to send their children here and I see that as a real responsibility.
"I've never looked at it as pressure, I've always looked at it as privilege, my privilege.
"You are serving a community and that's always really important to remember.... you're aware people are watching and they watch how you go."
Ms Thomas said leadership required vision, compassion, a "thick skin" to stick to convictions, transparency, teamwork and the ability to follow through.
"[During COVID] people needed you to be decisive, clear, communicate well, they needed you to reassure them and I hope I've been able to bring a number of those different qualities, depending on the time and the situation, to this school."
She said she hoped her legacy included a positive and respectful culture, more global outlook, the Vietnam project, Park Campus redevelopment and sowing the seeds for equity scholarships.
She said the board had searched internationally for - and planned to announce in the next month - the next head of school.
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