Scholarship English We are delighted that the following students gained English Scholarship in 2019:
Nelson, but, after two years in this role, sought a new challenge, which took her to Haverstock School in London. Quick to adapt to all aspects of College life, Claire is already well established, and the department is excited by the prospect of her continued presence and involvement in the future. Another addition in 2020 was English tutor Ruth Simms, who initially joined us from Mansfield College, Oxford, in 2019, and agreed to stay in the wake of our nationwide lockdown and the travel complications arising from this. Ruth has assisted and extended boys across the school, working closely with the Scholarship English class and a small group of Year 9 boys seeking extension and enrichment. The department continues to benefit from her expertise, and we cannot thank her enough for the level of support she provides by offering one-on-one tuition for boys across College. At the start of the year, the threat of Covid-19 felt impossibly distant, but it eventually became clear that dealing with its emergence in New Zealand was a matter of when not if. As coronavirus rapidly began to reach its almost omnipresent status, its ramifications were felt across both the English department and the wider school community. As a result, a mostly conventional Term 1 ended in lockdown, which had an unprecedented impact on staff and students alike. For English, several key changes took place at this time. Along with trading our classrooms for (often makeshift) home offices, each of us had to grapple with new ways of sustaining our teaching and learning programmes. We strove to deliver our course material as best as possible, in the knowledge that there would be support structures in place to address inevitable concerns around managing high-stakes assessments and other such issues. With lessons moving online, the department quickly utilised new tools and a plethora of digital resources to
keep the boys motivated and moving forward in their studies. While each teacher navigated the ins and outs of online teaching slightly differently, the following trends were common: Schoolbox turned into a core platform for setting regular schemes of work, Zoom calls replaced physical meetings, and pre-recorded Loom videos became a popular mode of instruction. In the end, everyone played their part and, although it was strange being physically isolated from one another, it became a time of heightened collegiality and teamwork. Having successfully negotiated the complexities of e-learning for well over a month, we were finally given the green light to return to campus. Equipped with a new appreciation of life pre-Covid, we began to make the transition to our “new normal”. Perhaps one of our most significant changes involved the introduction of “evidence gathering” as a means of assessing our senior students. In contrast to conventional practice, whereby students are assessed on a single submission per Achievement Standard, this system meant teachers were able to vouch for each student's performance across several smaller pieces of work and assign a grade accordingly. This intervention made the transition back to school more manageable and helped support high levels of achievement upon everyone's return. As we move towards 2021, it is with great sadness that we farewell our Head of Department Sian Evans. Instrumental in keeping us united and on track during these uncertain times, Sian leaves us to become the Head of Senior School at St Margaret's College. The department thanks Sian for her unparalleled commitment to all things English during her time at College, and for being such an inspirational role model for our students. We wish her all the very best and look forward to hearing about her future success in our sister school.
Year 10 – Isaac Heap Year 12 – Angad Vraich Year 13 – Ellie Stevenson Year 13 – Matthew Todd
Always moving from strength to strength, the department’s track record with Scholarship remains a source of great pride, largely thanks to the enduring effort of Sian Evans and Ruth Simms. With Scholarship English being offered for the first time as a timetabled class in 2021, we look forward to continued growth and success in this area.
PRIZE WINNERS In yet another testament to the
perseverance and hard work of our boys, it pleases me to acknowledge an incredible breadth of achievement, despite the unprecedented disruptions we faced this year. Top students Year 9 – Oscar Compton-Moen Year 10 – Lewis Whiteside
Year 11 – Yusef Elnahas Year 12 – George Gearry Year 13 – John-Paul Lay
Tancred Prize for Literature Year 9 – Noah Yee Year 10 – Otto Elworthy Year 11 – Bruce Chen
Year 12 – George Gearry Year 13 – John-Paul Lay
Tom Cooper Prize for Public Speaking Originally planned for Term 1, the impact of Covid-19 meant offering this event in its traditional format was impossible. Rather than throw in the towel and accept defeat, we turned to College’s ethos of “innovation wrapped in tradition” for guidance. In order to keep this well-loved competition alive, we modified the rules by encouraging boys to submit digital entries. Although it was unusual judging speeches in cyberspace without
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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