Congratulations to Room 5 student Vili, who received a Highly Commended certificate for his essay 'Running for Ora'. His was one of just 14 Highly Commended entries. Also, congratulations to Room 2 student Eddie, who received a Commended award for 'Not Just Shooting Hoops", one of 40 commended awards across the country.

The Intermediate Writers Award is a New Zealand-wide essay writing competition. It encourages students to research and connect with contemporary topics that are important to New Zealanders. 

Congratulations to all the Heaton students across Year 7 and Year 8 who participated in the IWANZ competition this year. Students wrestled with the challenging charge to write an essay about kindness and bravery in the face of adversity. They wrote about a wide variety of courageous individuals and groups during adversities like war, pandemic, natural disasters, and human rights. They learnt not only how to write a persuasive essay, but also researched interesting topics and explored their own family histories for personal connections to admirable ancestors.