Our Director of Boarding, Matthew Ahern, is a Hawke’s Bay native, having grown up in Norsewood and attended Norsewood Primary and Dannevirke High School where he was Head Boy and played for the 1^st XV. The ethos of both these schools and their rural surroundings provided a very supportive and community-orientated background which had a definite impact on Matt’s outlook later in life. Matt went on to study at Massey University where he particularly enjoyed field work during his physical geography courses and getting to work with other students training to be teachers.  After university, Matt returned to Dannevirke High School for his first teaching position. He found it really interesting to be on the other side of the table as a teacher and appreciated the opportunity to give back to a place that had given him so much as a student. 

Taking up a teaching role at Lindisfarne College in 2018 provided a new challenge for Matthew as did his appointment as Director of Boarding in 2019.  He was attracted to this opportunity as it offered the chance to have a positive impact on wider aspects of the school and to work more intensely in an area he is passionate about: pastoral care. Matt’s approach to new challenge is to look for ways to improve and he is willing to learn through successes and failures. He has an approachable quality which means he can relate well to students and provide them with the right guidance towards becoming the best they can be during a challenging time in their lives.

The role of Director of Boarding means living on site and committing an enormous amount of time and energy to the job and it would be impossible to achieve this without family support.  Matthew’s partner, Laura, is also involved in education as an early childhood teacher and they have two young children who enjoy the space made available by living at Lindisfarne.