2023 was another busy year for the English Department. We have embraced the changes with enthusiasm, a sense of humour, and a commitment to having fun. We are very fortunate to have a stable group of teaching staff.

The NCEA English staff, Ms Angela Smith, Mr Andrew Strachan, Mrs Shannon Hurley, Mrs Kathryn Morgan, Mrs Megan Heather and Mr Dan O’Brien have brought a great mix of thematic learning opportunities to our boys and it is great to see them selecting from such a variety of contexts, War and Conflict, Conspiracy Theories, Serial Killer, Gun Control and Things That go Bump in the night to name a few. English is very much alive and kicking and it’s great to see the boys really engaging in these contexts and developing their critical literacy skills. It’s also fabulous to see so many of our boys making the most of the opportunity to develop their functional literacy skills in Work Ready Literacy. We will continue to work on developing programmes of work to tap into the boys’ interests as we make the preparations for the NCEA changes that are knocking on the door.

It’s great to see the boys so positive about their learning. There have been a mix of speeches, making movies, visual presentations, as well as reading and writing activities. This year we have been working with the Write That Essay programme to focus on writing skills, expanding vocabulary as well as drilling down on punctuation and grammar. The boys can practise these skills with daily challenges and get instant feedback and suggestions for edits.

The biggest change for 2023 has been our trialing of the Literacy Co-requisites (Reading and Writing). These become compulsory for Level 1 NCEA, so giving our Year 10s the opportunity to sit them this year means that they get as many chances as possible. The new Level 1 NCEA Standards are also compulsory next year, and we look forward to that challenge.

We now move into navigating the new NCEA and ensuring everyone is ready for its compulsory introduction in 2024.