In this episode, we celebrate an NZEEA win in the Quality Teaching and Instruction, Junior category with the team from Sommerville School, New Zealand's largest specialist school. We discuss the four pillars behind their award winning workforce strategy and the systems that have helped lift staff retention significantly over the past two years.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

In this episode, we talk with Lyndy Watkinson, tumuaki of Avondale College in Auckland, winner of the NZEEA award for quality teaching and instruction at secondary level. Lyndy talks about leading one of the country's largest and most diverse secondary schools, and how that diversity shaped the school's professional learning priorities. She tell us about the the school's Teacher Growth Profile and the principles that underpin it, and how weekly timetabled PLD time has changed the way staff learn together.

Leading through the unthinkable: Blair Dravitski's story

In this episode, we hear from Blair Dravitski, who was principal at Linwood Avenue School in Christchurch on 15 March 2019, when the mosque attacks took place 300 metres from his school gate. Blair talks about the six-hour lockdown, the decisions he made in real time, and the long work of supporting a community — including Muslim students and whānau — through grief, fear, and recovery. We then hear from all three guests in this series as they reflect together on what the education system needs to understand better about principals leading through and beyond crisis.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

Instinct and aftermath: John Bangma's story

In this episode, we hear from John Bangma, who was tumuaki of Mairehau Primary School in Christchurch when the 22nd of February 2011 earthquake struck. Three classes of his students were in the CBD. John talks about how instinct took over, the hours of uncertainty waiting for those children to return, and the years of recovery that followed — including how the school adapted its environment and its programme to support children living through prolonged community trauma.

This is the second in a series of conversations with three leaders who have each guided their school communities through significant crisis events. All three were present for this kōrero.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

When crisis hits home: Catherine Bentley's story

In this episode, we hear from a tumuaki who found herself on both sides of a crisis at once. When Cyclone Gabrielle devastated Hawke's Bay in February 2023, Catherine Bentley was leading Hastings Girls' High School, Ngā Rau Huia Ākina, while simultaneously losing her home and navigating the trauma of her own family's displacement. Catherine speaks honestly about the decision to be visible at school while not being okay, about leaning on others through prolonged uncertainty, and about what the experience taught her about equity, community, and her own leadership.

This is the first in a series of conversations with three leaders who have each guided their school communities through significant crisis events. All three were present for this kōrero.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

In this episode, we talk to the secondary winners of the New Zealand Education Excellence Award for Raising Student Achievement, Auckland Girls' Grammar School. Maree Flannery and Gavin Morgan discuss the moral imperative behind their work with Māori and Pasifika learners, the introduction of priority learners, and what happened when they removed streaming and reduced prerequisites for senior courses. We discuss their fortnightly extended leadership team meetings, the repositioning of deputy principals as leaders of learning, and their mentoring programme, as well as with the results that followed, including a rise in university entrance from 44 to 92 per cent.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

In this episode, we talk to the winners of the New Zealand Education Excellence Award for Raising Student Achievement, Manurewa Intermediate. Callum Baird and Ben Nathan discuss how a shift away from inquiry based learning towards structured pedagogy, along with a deeper understanding of scale scores, changed the way staff track and target student progress. We talk about their three cycle reporting model and a cross-subject teacher check-in they call speed dating, their investment in learning support beyond their funded entitlement, and their results, including reading gains of 10.6 scale points, the biggest in ten years.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

In this episode, we look at the more complex side of attendance management, exploring how principals can develop realistic plans for students with health, learning or social challenges without setting whānau up to fail. We discuss how to engage tamariki directly in the process, how to work with families who have had negative experiences of school, what external support is available, and how to communicate about attendance in ways that feel supportive rather than punitive.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

Over the next two episodes, we explore the changes to attendance requirements for New Zealand schools, including the new attendance management plans and the stepped attendance response (STAR) framework. We hear from a Ministry of Education business lead and two principals about how the reforms are landing in practice, from recording daily attendance and using the new national codes to building the kinds of relationships that get tamariki through the door.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

In the first episode of Season 3, we speak with two winners of the New Zealand Education Excellence Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership. The award recognises schools that have led significant change for student success, and both of our guests today have done exactly that. David Graham leads Goodwood School, one of the largest rural primary schools in New Zealand, where practical, low-cost changes to teaching practice, classroom design and attendance have lifted student outcomes significantly. Jane Stanley leads Westlake Girls High School in Auckland, where post-COVID shifts in student engagement prompted a whole-school response focused on belonging, teacher capability and student growth.

Hosted by Eleisha McNeill.

Our guests are:

Additional information

New Zealand Education Excellence Awards - https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/scholarships-and-study-awards/new-zealand-education-excellence-awards