Awards and foreign country visits, to name a few!

Annelise Borger, our Chinese Language Curriculum Leader and teacher, was awarded the 2017 New Zealand Distinguished Chinese Teacher Early Career Award. She was presented the award on Monday 16th October in Auckland. Our Principal, Richard Vanderpyl, accompanied Annelise to Auckland to receive this award.

The award was presented by International Exchange and Pathways (ILEP) and New Zealand Chinese Language Teachers Association (NZCLTA) based on Annelises' contributions to teaching and innovation in Middleton Grange School and involvement in the wider Chinese teaching community.

Middleton Grange School has a Chinese Language programme which started at Year 7 and is now being taught up to Year 11. In 2018 it will extend to Year 12 and the year after to Year 13 students.

This is a very prestigious award, and we congratulate Annelise on the recognition of the time and commitment she provides to develop this programme in our school and other schools in Christchurch.

Matt Barlow, our Head of Middle School, will be given the chance to visit China next year, after being selected to represent Canterbury schools on the 2018 Principals Delegation to China. This trip is organised through the Confucius Institute at University of Canterbury. We will travel to China in April 2018 with the purpose of growing our own cultural awareness and understanding of Chinese culture for the benefit of the Chinese pupils who are in our school. We will visit schools and other educational institutions as well as visit a range of popular tourist and historical attractions. The group will spend time in Shanghai, Beiing and Wuhan.

Our congratulations to Matt.

Middleton maths teacher and eLearning Coordinator, Stephen McConnachie, received a Jim Campbell Award for Teaching Excellence from the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers.

The award, presented at their biennial conference during the October school holidays, recognises personal excellence in Primary or Secondary classroom teaching as well as support given to others in enhancing their classroom teaching, both in the Canterbury region and across New Zealand.

Great work Stephen!

Middleton Grange School staff always strive for the best. Whether this is in the classroom, in professional development or in their commitment to the school and wider community. We congratulate all our staff on a very successful 2017.