IAN Wing would never admit it, but he would rank among one of the state’s most influential school principals of the past 20 years.

And on Friday, the 61-year-old closed his office door for the last time, after 40 years of teaching - 18 as a principal.

Not only was he a principal at Quakers Hill High School and Wyndham College at Quakers Hill - but helped found both of them: Quakers Hill in 1993 and Wyndham College in 1998.

On Thursday, Wyndham College gave him a grand send-off at its year 12 graduation assembly.

Having lived his whole life in western Sydney, Mr Wing watched with interest as Quakers Hill High School rose from the vacant block while he was still leading teacher at Shalvey High School.

He applied for the principal’s job and was successful, and spent much of 1992 wearing a hard hat, procuring furniture and stationery for the fledgling school, selecting head staff and the first influx of year 7 students.

“I thought at the time it was be the most fulfilling experience I had ever had and would ever have,” he said. “Some six years down the track I watched what was happening here with the senior college and thought if we didn’t do something creative, Quakers Hill would become a recidivised school because what was happening here would be so attractive.”

There were other problems too. Quakers Hill High had reached its capacity of 800 students while both Riverstone High and Seven Hills High had a shrinking pool of students in their catchments.

So the idea of creating Wyndham College as a year 11 and 12 school, drawing from Riverstone, Quakers Hill and Seven Hills which would offer years 7 to 10, was born and dubbed the Nirimba Collegiate of Schools.

It was the first arrangement of its kind in the state, and Mr Wing became the college’s inaugural principal.

“It was a very professionally rewarding experience to have a blank canvas like that,” he said.

“Starting a new school is also starting a culture and an ethos.

“For us it has been about teachers being facilitators of learning instead of pouring out knowledge from above.”

Having conquered some of his profession’s greatest challenges, the decision to retire has proven the greatest challenge of them all.

“It has been a horrifically painful decision for me. But it is time, and it will be a good thing for the college to have someone new that will bring something different,” he said.

“More than anything I am going to miss the people here.”

What makes Wyndham College so special?
Apart from being the senior school of a collegiate including Quakers Hill, Riverstone and Seven Hills high schools, the college benefits immensely from its location in the Nirimba Education Precinct.
The school is co-located with the senior campus of Terra Sancta Catholic College, TAFE Western Sydney Institute and UWS College.
This has allowed numerous students to complete TAFE courses and university degrees as part of their HSC year, giving them a headstart on their tertiary education.

28 Sep 11 @ 08:57am by DAVID CATT