The English department in 2026 has got off to a roaring start - roaring not like lion that stepped on an especially spikey lego piece, but one celebrating like he’s just won gold in the Winter Olympic ski jump (A very rare feat for a lion, to be sure).
As a department, we have been riding waves of change for some years now. We were a pilot school for the new NCEA standards and the Literacy CAAs. Now that we are faced with the next set of changes, we feel comfortable that we are adept at riding these waves. We have a new curriculum to implement at Years 9 and 10, which incorporates both a rise in expectations for what a student will know and be able to do, and a shift in knowledge where contextual understanding of works is much more prominent.
We have redesigned our courses to align with this new curriculum, and have begun looking at the minutiae of this - how units and lessons look under this new framework. We will approach this with a mindset of how to fold the new curriculum into a course that our students will find rich, engaging and challenging. This work will continue and be a major focus of our energy in 2026.
But ... that said. English still really is about reading and writing - with a little speaking thrown in for good measure. Despite the shifting foci from the MOE, at its heart, what your boys experience, won’t be markedly different from what their parents did. We are on a mission to lead our students to become capable, thoughtful and insightful readers, and articulate, precise and effective communicators.
In pursuing this, I’m blessed to have a great team in the English department - we’re like the 2010 - 2015 All Blacks - if a little less fit and physically imposing. OK, a lot less. It is hugely important though, to have such capable and professional colleagues who are adept at navigating the constant changes and challenges we’ve faced as a curriculum area - who can innovate, without losing sight of all that is core to what we do. Rest assured, we’ll all continue to work hard to provide courses, lessons and learning experiences enrich your young person.
Finally, I ask one thing of you. Please, please, please don’t accept your son telling you he doesn’t read. Push and push and push - get him off Tik Tok (The anti-thesis of reading) and into a book. Read to him. Get him audiobooks and have him read along. Fathers, especially, talk positively about reading and books - have him see you read. It is the single most important thing you can do to ensure his academic success.
If you want to hear a little more about this, read - Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Harri. And if you want to read something that’s just plain wonderful - Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver.
Over and out - David Schaumann - HoD English
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