Week 1 Term 2 - English Department: Review Term 1 (April 28 - May 02)

Establishing clear expectations, fostering a good working environment and building positive and strong relationships with our akonga has been the focus for Term 1. It is all about setting the tone and I am really grateful for the English Department and how they have helped to set a strong foundation for our students. In the first 11 weeks of our academic year, we have all worked together to create a climate in our learning area that is fun, safe and engaging for our students. I am thankful for the English Department team for their support, commitment and leadership for both our team and our students. 

Tamaki College English Department Term 1 2025

I want to thank and acknowledge the English Department for ensuring that Term 1 ran smoothly. I also acknowledge that members in our Department who are Deans and some were heavily involved in the Polyfest. I acknowledge the time that you have had to manage with both our responsibilities for our Department and your other ‘hats’. Thank you to the team - Pravina, Jeremy, Faiyaz, Viv, Anahina and Francis. I would like to thank Mrs Viv Hall for your friendship and leadership in coming into our team and relieving the whole term while we await our new Department member. Thank you Viv for your patience, your time and your willingness to take the classes and students on board. You have gone beyond the call of a relief teacher and you are officially part of our family. I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Mele Suipi Latu, Mr Marc Milford, Dr Jannie Van Hees and Mrs Mary-Anne Wyatt for your support of the English Department in Term 1.

Some of the highlights for our English Department this term were:

Structured Literacy: We spent our Monday morning PLD sessions for Week 2, 3 and 4 with Dr Jannie for Structured Literacy. In our partnership with the Science and Social Science Departments, we enjoyed our sessions getting up to code with Structured Literacy and seeing how we can implement it in our Year 9 and Year 10 English classes. We look forward to continuing this work with Dr Jannie in Term 2.

PAT Session with Mrs Suipi Latu

PAT Session with Mrs Suipi Latu

Unpacking PAT Results: We had the privilege of having Mrs Mele Suipi Latu (HOLA ESOL) come and unpack the PAT data with us. She took us through the NZCER site and how we can navigate it, understand the reports for our classes and how to access different text types to use in our Junior English program. This was covered across two sessions in Term 1.

In my next post I will review our Term 1 Junior and Senior English program.