Holy Cross School, Henderson

Kathy Moy-Low

Principal, Holy Cross School

Kathy grew up in Wellington in a rugby family so when she’s brave enough she still wears a Hurricanes jersey! In a Catholic family she attended Mt Carmel School and then St Mary’s College where speech and drama were among her special interests. When accepted by Wellington Teachers’ College it just seemed that this was the career she had always meant to have. “My first school was Taita Intermediate and then Kevin and I moved to Wainuiomata, to Parkway Intermediate, and we brought up two sons there. From that point I felt led back into the Catholic school system and I joined St Matthew’s in Wainuiomata, working my way up to Assistant Principal. From there I went to St Patrick’s and after various responsibilities became principal in 1990 at the start of “Tomorrow’s Schools”. The family decided to move north in 1996 and in October of that year Kathy was appointed principal of Holy Cross School in Henderson, and Kathy became a Westie. Tragically in 2001 Kevin drowned, something that tested Kathy to the limit and she is still appreciative of the love and support she received from pupils, parents, friends, the staff and the Church. In September 2005 Kathy took a twelve month sabbatical where the first six months were spent teaching in a Catholic school in Lagos, Nigeria. There she taught literacy development, reader recovery and worked in an orphanage. From there she flew to London to conduct some research on emotional intelligence (EQ). “Interestingly 10-15 years ago children’s emotions were more even. Often today their EQ is underdeveloped and they don’t act so well in their peer groups. This became more highlighted through my travel.” Kathy returned to Holy Cross in September last year and against all personal expectations, “I met a lovely man, Phillip and married again!” Kathy enjoys leading Holy Cross; she sees developing the whole child academically, emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually as essential to developing successful adults of tomorrow.