In 1858 Potatau Te Wherowhero spoke these words in the ceremony proclaiming him Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Māori King: “Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero. I muri, kia mau ki te aroha, ki te ture, ki te whakapono.”

Potatau’s whakataukī explains that while individual threads are weak, the process of weaving three colourful threads together makes not only a strong fabric, but the united threads become beautiful and tell a story. The metaphor of the woven threads powerfully conveys the message that when people work together, they become stronger and more resilient. Keeping this whakataukī in mind has been particularly important this year, with the on-going and at times exhausting consequences of the Covid pandemic.

The English Dept is fortunate to have a wide range of different “threads”, in terms of the teachers who form our team. At the start of the year Ms Michaela May was an excellent addition; Ms May, hailing from the UK, has a keen interest in literature and storytelling, as well as historical and contemporary issues in the South Pacific. Her strong sense of social justice and passion for young people adds a bright thread in the fabric of our Dept. Sadly, in December, we will be farewelling the fabulous Mrs Sarah Walker who is taking a well-earned break; we will very much miss her quick humour, her generosity of spirit, and her determination for each and every ākonga to achieve their potential. We wish her the very best in her next adventure in life!

In terms of our teaching and learning programme, 2022 marked the move to semesterization in the junior school, where students had a range of topics to choose from. Courses included: “Rebel with a Cause”; “From Myth to Marvel – the Hero’s Journey”; and “Creating Change Through the Media”. With the move to the Green setting, we were once again able to take students out on trips (such as Top Dog’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Isaac Royal theatre, the Writing for Change class attending a day-long series of writer-led workshops at University of Canterbury during the Writers’ Festival, and several on-site visits and workshops by acclaimed poet, Tusiata Avia). Another highlight this year was the collaboration between Chelsea Houghton (Creatives in Schools) and Lisa Mackay in our “Writing for Change” course, where students wrote then produced their very own literary magazine.

Next year we will be following the Maths Dept’s lead by participating in the new Literacy co-requisite assessments. We will also be preparing for the new Level 1 NCEA standards, which are being introduced in 2024, and the English curriculum re-fresh.

As well as bringing their best effort and attitude to class, both junior and senior ākonga at Avonside are encouraged to extend themselves beyond the classroom; we have a Scholarship English Club (run by Ms Rayward), Creative Writing Club (run by Ms Hickey), Debating Club (run by Mrs Sutherland), plus a wide-ranging Extension Programme, led by our Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator, Ms Hickey. In addition, there are a number of external and internal competitions, involving writing and public speaking, which ākonga are encouraged to enter. Information about these competitions is distributed via Student Notices, as well as through students’ English teachers.

It was fantastic to see the calibre of entries in the AGHS Senior Writing competitions this year. I was particularly impressed with the range and quality of pieces entered into the prose competition, which is open to all Year 11-13 students. Both junior and senior speech competitions were also a delight to watch, as there were a number of sophisticated, thought-provoking topics compellingly delivered. 

This year’s winners are:

Year 9 Public speaking: 

WINNER – Rosie Paul (“Adults need to listen to young people”)

Year 10 Public speaking: 

WINNER – Zoe Croot (“No Ocean, No Life”)

Senior prose competition: 

WINNER – Ashlin Banks (Year 12)

RUNNER-UP – Sunny Radzyner (Year 12)

Senior poetry competition: 

WINNER – Sunny Radzyner

Senior speech competition: 

WINNER – Sunny Radzyner

RUNNER-UP – Lily Bond (Year 13) 

Sincere thanks to our esteemed judges, Mrs Ruth Dove and Hamish Thomas who had the enjoyable but challenging job of selecting the above winners. I encourage ākonga of 2023 to give these competitions a go!

Ngā mihi ki a koe,

Ms Christine Rayward

HOLA English