Melanie Taylor has described her appointment as first principal of Papamoa's new Golden Sands School, opening February 2011, as a ‘dream come true'.
'It's been a career dream of mine to start a school from scratch. It's exciting to get that opportunity to create the best possible school you can.”

Melanie Taylor will start as principal of the new Golden Sands School, which opens in Papamoa next year.

Melanie says the school will have a roll of about 160 and nine to 10 staff when it opens.
'As the school grows, we'll be eligible for more staff.”
Melanie is currently the principal at Rotokawa School in Rotorua.
Although the school does not open until 2011, Melanie will officially start her new role as principal on April 19 to help oversee the development of the school's construction, curriculum and planning.
'At the moment it's just a building site. There's no buildings there yet, but I believe some of the contractors have arrived on site.”
Melanie wants children who attend Golden Sands School to understand the importance of technology in a modern world.
'The biggest challenge for anyone in the current education climate is to cater for children in the new electronic age.”
'These kids will do about 20-30 different jobs in their lifetime and many of these jobs won't have even been invented yet.”
'It's just part of who kids are today. We never had that technology when we were growing up. Technology is now part of everyday learning,” says Melanie.