Greetings from the Visual Arts Department for 2020!  Wow, what a year we have had – we began with acknowledging the success of the previous years scholarship students – in particular ………….. We also welcomed new staffer Ashley Heelam to the department to teach Y12 Art History and Junior Art and the senior Photography students embarked on successful EOTC.  We said farewell to Danielle Teleiai on maternity leave until next year, and have had part timer Alyssa Vennings Thompson teaching the junior classes.  The lockdowns created a number of challenges both positive and negative – however the resilience of students and commitment of teachers helped to maintain consistent communication and continued on line assistance.  Part of this support was the specialised postal and accessible ‘mobile’ Art supplies during both lockdowns – where resources were made available to enable students to keep working.

Whilst our EOTC trips and PD opportunities were ruled out during the Covid Alerts – the revised NZQA updates and professional networks helped us prioritise and restructure achievable objectives to utilise class/homework time more effectively.  The concerted efforts of staff to offer afterschool and holiday workshops has been core to this success – enabling students to maxim the resources,  time and energy to resolve their works.

Lastly a special individual mention to the extremely talented ……………………………… who not only received our highest honour for taking out the Tuisamoa Cup for Excellence in the Visual Arts, they also designed the Yearbook cover and secured the ARA Masonic Lodge award ($1250 towards 2019 tertiary study in the Visual Arts).

Congratulations to those who completed their studies and to this years prize winners – all the best for your critical/creative endeavours beyond the school gate.

Ia Manuia
Lily Laita | HOD Visual Art