Jade Montgomery

Jade Montgomery was the long-serving principal of Mangrove River High, whose past students included Heath, Casey and Josh. She had once accused Heath of stealing her car, resulting in him being sent to juvenile detention even though he was innocent. Nicknamed ‘the Sniper’, Montgomery was regarded as highly influential, with a student always being in the firing line once she set her sights on them.

When the school was destroyed in a fire and the decision was taken to merge the pupils and staff into Summer Bay, Montgomery met with Bianca, assuming she would be principal of the new school only to be told she would be Bianca’s deputy. She was reunited with Heath, who she was amused to learn was Bianca’s husband, and made it clear she considered him a lost cause, as she did many of the current students.

Bianca met with her to view the plan she had prepared for the merger and suggested they have dinner together to try and relieve the tension between them. Whilst Bianca spoke positively of her plan, Montgomery belittling Heath, who was working at Angelo’s, when he brought the wrong order caused Bianca to warn her not to speak to students like that. The words didn’t have much of an effect as Montgomery was quick to put down Matt for accidentally bumping into Tamara and was amused when Bianca’s attempts to encourage Matt failed, also objecting to Heath and Casey visiting school property.

Montgomery objected when Bianca helped Casey get HSC qualifications and was amused when Heath dragged two Mangrove River students to school thinking they were truants, when in fact one of them had a free period. She paid Matt to set a litter bin on fire, then tried to get him to tell the police Bianca had made inappropriate advances towards him. Matt refused, thinking it a step too far, so Montgomery vandalised the school herself. Although she played her part in helping Bianca and Leah clean up, she made it clear she considered Bianca an enemy, with Leah suspecting she wanted the principal’s job.

Leah witnessed Montgomery bullying Josh until he walked out of class and she ended up having a formal complaint made against her. She responded by making a counter complaint about Bianca allowing Heath on school grounds, then confronted Heath in the Diner and slapped him when he called her old and bitter, before accusing him of assault. However, Tamara gave Heath an alibi, leading to the charges being dropped and Montgomery being suspended.

She approached Bianca and Ricky and tried to apologise but Bianca told her she was apologising to the wrong person. She then tried with Heath, calling it a misunderstanding and asking him to talk to the education department, but he dismissed her. She met with a dodgy character, Neville Flanders, who gave her a bomb that she could detonate remotely with a mobile phone. Rejecting Leah’s attempt to get her to move on, she sneaked into Bianca’s house and planted the bomb in her laptop bag, before paying Matt to keep quiet about their past dealings.

On triggering the bomb and hearing people talking about the explosion, she tried to blame it on a Mangrove River student only to hear the bomb had gone off at the hospital, killing Ethan McGuire and injuring several others. She went there and tried to get information from Alf, seeing Bianca being airlifted to the city in a coma and being noticed by Heath. She asked him if they knew who did it, then went to the school and tried to plant the phone in a student’s locker. She was caught by Heath, who dragged her to the hospital and accused her of planting the bomb. When Andy arrived and tried to talk Heath down, Montgomery took the opportunity to flee to the surf club, still playing the victim as John and Andy restrained Heath. However, Leah revealed Matt had already told the police she was the one who burnt down Mangrove River High and the police were after her about both that and the bomb. Montgomery said she spent ten years dealing with the Mangrove River students and had to burn the place down to get a transfer, only for the students to follow her and Bianca to refuse to listen. She said she didn’t care what Heath did to her. Heath backed down and let Leah and John take Montgomery to the police.