With bicycles on his socks, a smile on his face and a long and decorated career in SCEA, Peter Bolt is enjoying a new challenge in Mundaring Christian’s senior school in Parkerville.
The no-nonsense, results-driven style that has built Peter a reputation as a dependable teacher, administrator and leader over the past decade comes as a result of doing one thing well – building systems that work.
Graduates may remember Peter as the man who built up Swan’s Trade Training Centre and initiated successful mission trips to Cambodia and the Philippines. Others may know of his work as Dean of Students at Ellenbrook Christian College and the pastoral care systems that were instituted by him and his team there. This year’s challenge is another SCEA campus: Parkerville.
With the workmen outside his window busily preparing Stage 3 of the Mundaring Christian College Senior Campus, Peter is already looking ahead to 2021:
“There are 150 new students expected on this campus next year. We need to be ready for them, and we need to be prepared for everything that comes with welcoming people to our campus as students, parents and staff.”
Peter knows all about preparation. He is not taken in by the latest marketing jingles or corporate taglines. He prefers to look at the situation, devise a plan and works with his team to achieve this.
“Every school and every campus has its peculiarities. There is a certain flavour to every school dynamic that you come across. Understanding that is important, because nobody wants a person who blindly gives orders and the end result is not the desired outcome.”
Peter has another maxim that he values above all else: the God-given gift of hard work.
“Nothing comes without some level of work. We understand that as adults to some degree, we teach it to the students we come into contact with, and its something that we need to remind ourselves of it each day.”
The bicycle socks are not just for the photo. Peter is an avid cyclist (Chairman of the X-Speed Australia Cycling Club), swimmer and long-distance running in Ironman events. But those that see him as the feared disciplinarian that ever secondary school needs to enforce uniform, behaviour and standards need only approach the smiling six-footer and share a laugh about his long career as a leader and mentor to see that he is an approachable chap with both feet firmly on the ground:
“The greatest success stories in SCEA are often very personal realities. It takes a massive effort by an entire community to produce excellent graduates. The work is done in our schools to produce polite, effective young people who can contribute to their communities and understand the Christian worldview once they leave these classrooms is immense. To be a part of this is something very special.”