Well, what an action packed second half of the year we’ve had! It seemed that no sooner had the dust settled on the Year 7-8 speech competition than the Year 9-13 competition was upon us. It was a fierce battle for first place in the 9-10 competition, with Paige Walker taking the top spot. The 11-13 competition also proved to be a close run event, with Abigail Paton claiming gold on the day. My thanks to Jan Malloch and Yvonne Sharp for their judging - I didn't envy them the tough calls they had to make. All who were present agreed that the quality of the entries and the maturity and sensitive approach taken to some of the topics was a credit to the speakers. I’d also like to thank Indie Kee and Fipe Maire for their capable MC-ing of the event. This was the first time - I think! - that we split the Speech Competitions and due to the resounding success of this year's events, I feel that this is the way to do it going forward. Stay tuned for some exciting developments with the Year 7-8 Speech Competition next year!

In the spirit of trying out something new (or bringing back something old!) the Year 9 and 10s had their first go in many a year at sitting down to traditional ‘End of Year Exams’ in English (and Maths). The expression on the faces of some of the students to seeing their classrooms transformed into exam rooms was quite something to behold. We truly believe that students studying NCEA in Years 11-13 should sit as many external exams as they are capable of. Giving them experience of sitting exams in Years 9 and 10 is vital to building up the exam resilience that they need for future success. It was felt that replicating the NCEA set-up as closely as possible would encourage student ‘buy-in’ and get them to take the exams seriously. The students rose to the occasion, with the vast majority of them giving their best efforts. This was not only heartening to see, but bodes well for their future performance.

That’s it for English this year. Have a restful holiday season and remember: summer is the perfect time to read that book that you’ve been meaning to read for ages!