Te Kauwhata teacher Chris Plant describes himself as a ‘people person who really loves meeting and talking to new people’ and he’s fulfilling that many times over that in his current job, interests and extensive community work.
Teaching at Te Kauwhata College since 2019, Chris (“Mr Plant”) enjoys the variety of the unexpected. “Each day I get to do something I enjoy and share the excitement of finding out new things. Seeing the look of excitement and satisfaction on students’ faces when it all finally clicks is totally rewarding.”
But little do Te Kauwhata’s students know, Chris Plant was not aiming for a teaching career but early on had his sights set on his first passion – flying. “I wanted to be a pilot but unfortunately, I have Meniere’s disease which affects my ears causing things like vertigo so that wasn’t an option for me.
“I knew I liked working with people, so since I couldn’t be a pilot, I looked at training to be cabin crew. Then Sept 11 happened and Air NZ wasn’t in a healthy or hiring position, so I did work experience back at Huntly College. A teacher there suggested I train as a teacher, and the rest is history. I got my first posit in Te Kauwhata Primary in 2007 and it soon became clear that teaching was an obvious choice as a long term career.
‘I also quickly learned to double check everything, even things that seemed harmless. When teaching there early in my career, a parent donated a pile of magazines, which I didn’t check. While being observed by the principal (and that always happens at the most awkward moments!) a student brought up a magazine and said, “look what I found Mr Plant” and a centrefold fell out from the middle of the mag.”
Living the country dream
Although not born locally, Chris and parents moved from New Plymouth to Huntly when he was two and father Martin was transferred to work at the Huntly power station. Chris grew up in Huntly West and started school at St Anthony’s. By the time he was eight, the family had moved to Ruawaro and he jumped wholeheartedly into country schooling at Rotongaro Primary.
“My first experience of country life was going to the annual Rotongaro sports day, food, wood chopping and trying the catch the greasy pig. Lamb and calf days were always a challenge between my friends. I then moved to Ruawaro primary when we combined schools with the closing of Rotongaro. I went to Huntly college for my college years”
He admits he’s not a natural rule-breaker, tried wagging once, but was caught by the deputy principal after walking (without attempting to hide) into Huntly.
When he’s not teaching Chris can be found taking part in a wide range of activities in Te Kauwhata. “Besides teaching, I’m a Co-manager at St Andrews Shop, which fills up my spare hours of the week. I am also into my third year as a Justice of the Peace, following in the footsteps of my grandfather. I also support the St Andrew’s church as a manager, much like a board member.”
Being active in the community is important to Chris, as is having a good work/life balance. “All the things I do are important to me. Work gives me the satisfaction of doing something well, my faith and working in the Opshop keep me grounded and travelling gives me experiences I can’t get here but also reminding me how lucky I am to call NZ home.
For my work life balance, I make sure that work is done at work. I’d rather stay late and not have to bring it home. Anything arty is my happy place, watercolours are my new fav, and I might need to get a pottery wheel at some point. Just being with people keeps my batteries full.”
Travelling’ man
Chris tries to travel overseas at least once a year and enjoys group tours with a company, Teacher Xpress, specially designed for teachers during school holidays.
So far he’s visited around 16 countries on tour and has some life lessons to share – including how to fend off mass marriage proposals! But the biggest thing, he says, is when travelling is taking off your kiwi hat and living like locals to make any experience way more authentic.
“Each trip has been magical; walking around the corner at Machu Picchu and the whole sight coming into view just takes your breath away. So do the Terracotta Warriors in China, or the Taj Mahal. Seeing elephants in the wild in Chobe was amazing, though funny enough, did not see one single zebra the entire time we were there.
“I’ve tried lots of different foods including Guinea pig, snake, warthog, ostrich – but I wasn’t brave enough to try donkey. I had plenty of marriage proposals in Vietnam on an overnight train, we even started bargaining how many cows were going to be traded!.
“China was an amazing place. We went out one night and decided we wanted dumplings – but no-one one spoke English, so we relied on good old google translate. I’m not entirely sure how accurate it was but haven’t laughed so much in years. No-one on either side knew what was happening, but the food arrived and was a stunning 10/10…whatever it was!”
Next on the list is Japan this year: and Chris says he’s really looking forward to that as yet another different experience. His 2026 ambitions echo those of many- aiming for good health as a starter. Now in his 19th year of teaching and second year as Assistant Principal at the college, he’s looking forward to growing into that position.
By Anna Bell
