Testimonials

The team and I were extremely grateful for the expertise and support Morag gave us during what could have been a very challenging time for us as a board. Morag encouraged and supported the team as we all were overwhelmed to begin with but thanks to her excellent experience and guidance we were able to come together and make clear and informative decisions in choosing a new principal from the many applications we received. I honestly don't know if we could have made such an important decision without Morag. She was lovely to work with and we were very grateful for the opportunity to work with her. We learnt a lot especially about ourselves as a board and would most definitely work with her again if we were to find ourselves in a similar situation again (let's hope not). I am going to recommend your services to anyone who has need of a supportive and professional team such as you have. If you need a further testimonial then please contact me I am very happy to help. As to improving anything with your service I can't think of a thing that I would change.

Morag Hutchinson is a highly accomplished consultant with Ahead Associates, bringing deep expertise in school leadership and governance across Auckland. Morag supports senior leadership teams through strategic planning, team restructuring, professional growth cycle development and peer mentoring—all rooted in evidence-based practices and trust-based relationships. Known as a highly competent facilitator, she brings clarity, strategic focus, and relational depth to her work with principals and senior leaders.

Principal Endorsement Network & Peer Group Mentoring

• Really grateful for the time, great conversations and growth from our time together.
• Thank you for this year! I have found it really helpful.
• I have appreciated the time, effort and learnings from our time together and I am grateful for the relationships, discussions and shared support that the group (past and present) has encouraged and fostered.
• A huge thank you to you both for your support and encouragement through 2024! 

Developing High Performing teams

This was a fantastic workshop!
It was interesting to learn about the three main roles that leaders take on when connecting with people. This gave me a better understanding of us all as a team and how we interact with each other. It was great to note how we could ‘sponsor each other’ especially when introducing a new initiative.

Some valuable discussions were had around the concepts of servant leadership, transparency and forefront (knowing each team member’s strengths and as a collective what we consider “right”).  These discussions facilitated an opportunity for our team to share our ideas in a general way before we moved onto specifics relating to our school.

The workshop was presented in an engaging manner and utilised a variety of slides with reading material, discussions, video clips and role play scenarios. Questions were encouraged at any point and this was extremely valuable to ensuring that we were on the same page in terms of our understanding before moving onto another point. Examples given were relevant to the school context.

Developing High Performing teams

The opportunity to have Brenda come in and lead the sessions on High Performing Teams has been valuable.  As a team we now have more clarity around the roles and responsibilities of the team.  A challenge for me as a leader is to entrust some of the roles and responsibilities to the SLT in order to develop their leadership capabilities.  Another area to work on as a team, is collectively leading the  strategic direction of the school. Brenda gave us some excellent strategies to move forward with our decision making in order to come to consensus. A key factor in this will be making sure the SLT meetings are sacrosanct, regular and purposeful.  A focus for us as a team going forward will be to create more opportunities to work together as a whole school which will build the leadership capacity of the entire team and provide the children with some excellent learning.

I appreciated being part of the PD led by you.  I found your approach encouraging and respectful of each one of us.  I thought the content of the sessions was appropriate for our situation and school, in some cases there was some adapting needed, but I think this would apply to all schools.  The pace and quantity within each session was manageable, and appropriate for an end of school day time. Your manner made this learning enjoyable, even funny at times. Thank you for encouraging me in my role, in the different ways you did. It has made a difference to what I am doing, and how I am within my role.

Senior Leadership Workshop

Thanks for a productive meeting this morning with lots of valuable insights. Your facilitation has really helped us to grow as a team with your practical responses and active listening skills!  Much appreciated! See you next term.

Individual Mentoring

”I have enjoyed the process. It certainly made me reflect and think, and it has given me a direction moving forward. Many thanks for the professional discussions and encouragement.