2022 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 welcomed Shannon Hurley to the team. She has a wealth of experience in English and Performing Arts and we have all thoroughly enjoyed her passion and can do attitude.

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.

We have all enjoyed the revised Y10 learning experiences and it is great to read so many positive comments coming through in the Student Voice surveys. It’s great to see the boys so posiitve 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 boys are definitely writing with more fluency and accuracy and will be prepared to meet demands of NCEA next year.

We are all really proud of how well we, as a school community, all managed the uncertainties we experienced again this year with the continued impacts of Covid-19. The boys, alongside their teachers and whanau, managed to keep moving forward and keep on track for the year. This is something to celebrate and we should all take the time to contemplate how much has been accomplished this year. But, it is not over. We now move into navigating the new NCEA and ensuring everyone is ready for its compulsory introduction in 2024.