Senior Leadership

Patrick Drumm
Headmaster
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Patrick Drumm became the seventh Headmaster of Mount Albert Grammar School in January, 2016. He had previously been Principal of Botany Downs Secondary College, and Principal of Aorere College in Papatoetoe for five years.

Mr Drumm grew up in Mount Albert and still lives in the area. His grandfather, Mr Reginald Harrop, was a foundation student when MAGS opened in 1922 and went on to become a Prefect.

Mr Drumm is the Chairman of the Polyfest Trust Board, a former member of the College Sport Board, the President of the Auckland Secondary Schools Rugby Association, and a qualified rugby referee. He was Head Boy of St Peter’s College and later returned as Associate Principal before becoming Principal of Aorere.

He and his wife Anna have three children – Georgina, Thomas and Jessica.

Jo Williams
Associate Principal
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Jo Williams has worked in education for more than 20 years and has been at MAGS since 2002. She is a teacher of English.

Ms Williams’ other roles at MAGS have included Deputy Principal, Assistant Head of English and Dean; at a previous school she was a Dean, Teacher in Charge of the Library and the staff representative on the Board of Trustees.

She has three children – Amber, Gareth and Jarrod, who all attended MAGS.

“What I love most about MAGS is observing and being able to share in the experience of student success – in all its various forms,” says Ms Williams. “We have a great team of staff and students who work in sync towards a common goal, contributing to what we call MAGs Pride – this is what makes us special.”

Christine Cato
Deputy Principal
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Mrs Cato oversees Te Puna and Languages as well as the school-wide staff professional learning programme.

Previously our HOD Geography and a Dean at Rangitoto College, Mrs Cato joined MAGS as a part-timer in 2007 and was appointed HOF Social Science in 2010. She has continued to teach junior Social Studies classes.

Her three sons have all attended MAGS, which provided coaching and managing opportunities for her in basketball and football.
She is looking forward to continuing to support all of the four pillars of MAGS (academic, sport, arts and service) in her role.

Sarah Hayes
Deputy Principal
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Sarah Hayes is the Deputy Principal responsible for Human Resources and Junior Girls.  Sarah started MAGS in 2011 as the Head of the Commerce Faculty, was appointed Human Resources Manager in 2016 and a Deputy Principal in 2017.  She teaches Accounting and has been involved in the introduction of the subject of Agribusiness both at MAGS and nationally.  She has also had experience as a Dean and Academic Dean at another Auckland secondary school.

Sarah led school trips to China in 2015 and 2017, and was the manager of the school choirs in 2017.

She particularly enjoys the diversity of MAGS’ student body.

Toby Powell
Acting Deputy Principal
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Mr Powell oversees Junior Boys, School Assemblies, and Health, Outdoor Ed and PE.

Previously a Dean at MAGS, Mr Powell was a Progress Leader at Massey High School and taught in Massachusetts for two years before coming to MAGS in 2018.

Mr Powell, who teaches History and Social Studies, has a son and daughter and previously lived on site with his family when he was Assistant Director of School House.

He has coached and played basketball for many years and coaches junior boys at MAGS. Mr Powell is looking forward to continuing to support students to achieve their very best at MAGS.

Tanya Rose
Deputy Principal
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Tanya Rose has worked in education for more than 20 years and joined MAGS in 2018.

She started her career as a primary teacher, having trained in New Zealand, and then moved to London where she spent 17 years working in secondary schools.

During her time in London she progressed from a Mathematics teacher to take on roles such as Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 co-ordinator and then completed five years as a Head of Maths in a large central London School.  From Head of Maths, she moved into Senior Leadership and was an Assistant Headteacher at Ursuline High School for three years prior to returning to New Zealand.

After joining MAGS, Ms Rose had the responsibility of Exams Co-ordination for the whole school, and was made Head of Mathematics before assuming the Deputy Principal role.

John Stradwick
Deputy Principal
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John leads curriculum, and along with the headmaster, he drives the school’s strategic plan.

He was MAGS’ Head Boy in 1993. He returned to MAGS at the start of 2018 from Ormiston Junior College, where he was Deputy Principal. In 2016 John returned to New Zealand after five years in India where he led an American international school seeing it through to international accreditation with three accrediting bodies. He has taught in the UK and Asia in public, private, co-ed and single sex schools.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Art history with a Masters in Educational leadership (focussing on High Performance Leadership Teams).

He has coached football and cricket and is involved in student leadership activities, namely the School Prefects

John and his wife Anna live in Mt Albert with their three sons, two are currently attending MAGS, with one on the way.

Corey Todd
Deputy Principal
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Corey Todd joined MAGS at the start of 2019 from Massey High School, where he was Assistant Principal, overseeing Behaviour, Attendance and the Pastoral system.

He is a Physical Education and Health teacher, and completed his Masters in Education through University of Auckland. He previously taught at Onehunga High School where he was HOD of Physical Education & Health. He has coached school basketball and cricket teams.

Corey and his wife have two children.

Allie Wright
Deputy Principal
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Ms Wright first started at MAGS in 2005, and in that time has held multiple roles including Director of Sport, HoD of Senior Science and Dean.

Originally from Canterbury, she commenced her teaching career at Aranui High School in Christchurch, where she was HoD of Physics and Asst HoF. At both schools she enjoyed being closely involved in the many co-curricular activities for students.

Ms Wright lives locally with her husband and two children (one currently attending MAGS), and took a short break from teaching to care for her children during their time at Playcentre.

With a particular interest in sports management, Ms Wright has managed many sporting teams to success including the MAGS Girls and Boys 1st XVs and has been involved with club, provincial and national teams.
She is looking forward to being able to help more students achieve personal excellence in all areas at MAGS.