Nathan Scott, an accredited digital skills facilitator, will be supporting our students in utilising ICT in their learning this year. This article introduces you to Nathan.

I believe that I am a passionate educator who strives to make a difference for teachers and learners in all aspects of their learning journey.

I have been delivering digitech training and professional learning for schools and Kura for the last 5 years for Cyclone computers here in Canterbury.

I have been a registered NZ teacher for 15 years. My experience in the education sector is in the teaching of Mathematics, Science, Computer science and Robotics at Rangiora High School, Hurunui College and most recently Rolleston College.

As a dyslexic learner myself, I strongly believe that it is best for a student (at any age) to actively engage with hands-on experiences in learning spaces that are safe for them to experiment and explore; to try, to succeed and to fail.

I am a Cantabrian born and bred. I grew up in Leeston and Ashburton and only really moved away when I had left school and joined the Army when I was 17 years old. The Army put me through a university officer training program and I graduated with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Computer Science. The army was a fantastic experience, both rewarding and challenging at the same time.

I left the Army and decided to get into teaching. I enrolled in the Teacher College secondary graduate training program in Christchurch and brought my young family back home to Canterbury. On graduation, I spent 5 years teaching Mathematics at Rangiora High School, another 8 as HOD Mathematics and Science at Hurunui College and then 2 years at Rolleston College when it opened as a new school in 2017…this was a great chance to create new and innovative courses and I got to teach Computer science and robotics, alongside Mathematics and Science.

When the opportunity arose to become the digital skills facilitator for Canterbury with Cyclone computers I jumped on it. This role gets me into multiple schools working with groups of teachers and students directly, showing them useful and relevant skills they can use everyday. I love my job!

I am a father of four children, aged 7, 9, 20 and 22. My wife and I live, with my two youngest children (the older two are now off adventuring and having a life of their own), on a small lifestyle block just out of Southbridge township. We have 4 hectares of land with a variety of animals on it and spend most of our spare time looking after them.

We currently have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 4 cows, 5 calves, 2 goats, 7 sheep, 4 pigs (+9 new born piglets) and 30+ chickens. Its hard work at times having so many mouths to feed. I am sure we will have more to come…

There are a few pictures of our animals below