Anthony Christopher Urwin 

Talk Title: The Use of Tikanga and Kawa in the Classroom and School

Topic: Tikanga are the Customs and Obligations that determine how one behaves and acts responsibly to uphold the Kawa of Tangata Whenua, Mana Whenua, Mana Maori and Manuhiri. These Customs and Obligations also apply to the classroom. It determines how you as a teacher behave and your tauira. How you set the culture of the class space and how the students respond to the expectations of the environment and learning. The Customs and Obligations set or determine how one treats, respects and works in the learning environment as a team. The basis of this workshop is how to use the Powhiri Process to set and engage Kaiako and Tauira in developing Tikanga and Kawa ki roto i  te Ruma Ako.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’ This whakataukī speaks to Māori perspectives of time, where the past, the present and the future are viewed as intertwined, in that life and practice is a continuous process and evolving. The past is central to and shapes both present and future identity. From this perspective, the individual carries their past into the future. The strength of carrying one’s past into the future is that ancestors are ever present, existing both within the spiritual realm and in the physical, alongside the living as well as within the living. 

Ko Ranginui kei runga, Ko Papatuanuku kei raro , Ko nga tangata kei waenganui, Tuhia ki te rangi, Tuhia ki te whenua, Tuhia ki te ngakau o nga tangata, Ko te mea nui Ko te aroha. E mihi ana kia koe, Kei te mihi koutou, I te Matua nui i te rangi, Nana nei nga mea katoa, Kia tau mai  Te aroha Nga manaakitanga.

E mihi tēnei ki nga whenua tapu o tenei rohe, Awakairangi, Raukawakawa Moana, Whitireia, Rangituhi me te Moana o Awarua, tena koutou.  Ki nga iwi o konei a Ngati Raukawa, Te Atiawa me Ngati Toa Rangatira, me nga iwi o te motu nei ra te mihi ki a koutou. Tuatahi ki a koutou nga whanau kua tae mai no nga hau e wha.  Nau mai,  hoki mai ki raro i te maru o tenei whare.  Mauria mai o koutou maunga, awa, waka, iwi, hapu, tipuna, i waenganui i a tatou., Ki nga Rangatira o tenei tatari, tena koutou oti ra ki nga tangata o tenei rohe, nga Rangatira mauri ora.

Tuhia ki te rangi, Tuhia ki te whenua, Tuhia ki te ngakau o nga tangata Ko te mea nui ko te aroha. Tihei Mauri ora. E te Atua, tena koe, E te Marae, tena koe, E te whare, tena koe, E nga tangata whenua o Te Atiawa Whanui, tena koutou. Ko Taranaki te Maunga, Ko Waitara te Awa, Te Hungariki te Marae o toku papa, Ko Mururaupatu te Marae o toku whaea, Ko Pukerangiora raua Ko Puketapu oku Hapu, Ko Te Atiawa te Iwi. Ko Paul raua Ko Georgina oku matua. E wha nga tamariki kei roto i toku whanau. Ko Tina raua Ko Deanne oku tuahine, Ko Paora taku teina e noho ana ia ko Ahitireiria. Ko Sio raua ko Niko toku iramutu. Ko Nellie toku hoa rangatira te marama o toku ora e kuamate ia.

Ko Anthony Urwin taku ingoa ko au te matamua tamaiti o te whanau. Kua haere au ki te whare wananga o Te Herenga Waka mo te tau 2021 ki te whakaoti i taku tohu mo te Ahurea Maori, Matauranga me te Reo maori. Ko au te kaiako o Aotea Kareti.

Tom Britton

Talk Title: The teachers' ultimate cyber toolkit 

Topic: In this presentation, we will talk through the key things that you can do to ensure both your students and yourself are cyber resilient.  From crypto scams, apps of doom, clickjacking phones, lockouts, your cyber profile, and maintaining your privacy effectively.

Tom emigrated to New Zealand eight years ago. Since arriving in New Zealand in 2014, he has held a number of security roles with Xero, the Bank of New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health. Originally from the UK, Tom has over ten years of experience working in cyber security and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team from managing/delivering security operations services, threat modelling, cloud security assessments, and strategy writing to incident response planning. From UK Cyber Defence to Covid Tracing Apps to stopping ransomware in hospitals, Tom has failed and succeeded more times than he can count.

Tom’s key responsibility is to ensure cybersecurity is as effective as possible with as minimal effort.

Outside of work, Tom is a keen mountain biker and enjoys a day out fishing when he gets the time.

Dougal Sutherland

Talk Title: Strengthening Resilience in Education

Topic: Dougal will be talking about the franticness of life at the moment, how this busyness can contribute to burn-out, and some practical advice on how to cope. This session is about YOUR personal wellbeing as teachers and aims to give you 2-3 tips you can take away and implement tomorrow. Dougal will also highlight that while there are things all of us can do for our own wellbeing, there is also a responsibility on your workplace and employer to support you in maintaining psychological wellness.

Dougal’s experience as both a psychologist and a people leader informs his commitment to enhancing personal and organisational wellbeing.He has been working as a clinical psychologist for 20 years. With Umbrella Wellbeing, Dougal provides psychological support to workplaces and employees. This work has taken him around the country and around the world, providing help to everyone from stressed-out bureaucrats in Wellington, to victims of car-jackings, to people living in a constant state of fear due to impending missile attacks.

Previously, he worked at the mental health system coal-face, providing mental health support to children, parents, and families at both Otago and Hutt Valley District Health Boards.

Dougal has a specialist interest in cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) and he also has a passion for making psychology more accessible to the general public and has worked with the media in print, radio, and TV. His skill at translating expert psychological knowledge into accessible learning experiences contributes to Dougal’s training expertise, and his ability to support individual clients to make effective changes.

More recently, alongside his work with Umbrella, Dougal has been working at Victoria University training students how to be clinical psychologists.

Brooke Trenwith 

Talk Title: Lifting the Tide by Catering to the Neurodiverse

Topic: With as many as 34% of learners in our classes needing additional learning support, teachers need to know who to create a “rising tide that lifts all ships”. This workshop links strengths-based neurodiverse support, trauma-informed practice and relationship based practice to help our PCTs lift that tide. Participants will come away with practical and effective strategies that they can use immediately.

An experienced educator, Brooke is passionate about providing teachers with the knowledge and strategies to support neurodiverse learners in their care. Brooke was President of the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children (2016-2020), a NZ representative on the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (2016-2020) and is a MoE Accredited education consultant through her own company, Potential to Performance Ltd. Brooke is a trained a secondary teacher who has also taught from early childhood through to tertiary level and been an assistant director of an English language school in Taiwan. Brooke’s specialisations include inclusive learning (multiple labels), trauma informed education, coaching and leadership support. Brooke was on the Reference Group for the Ministerial Review of Curriculum, Progress and Achievement, the Curriculum Voices Hui for the NZ Curriculum Refresh and has sat on the Ministerial Advisory Group for Gifted Education since 2018. 

Marie Blackley, Rachel Burnett and Michael Cabral-Tarry

Talk Title: Entitlements and Expectations as a PCT  

Michael, Marie, and Rachel are Field Officers with the PPTA who help members to understand their entitlements and to maintain positive employment relationships. They’ll be stepping you through your rights as a PCT and how to ensure that you are getting the support that you are entitled to. In this workshop, you’ll also learn a little bit about the PPTA structure and how you can connect with your branch and networks. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to ask questions about your school context and any concerns you have about your Collective Agreement rights as a PCT. 

Marie joined the PPTA Field Service four years ago after teaching in both Christchurch and Dunedin. She has taught across a number of curriculum areas including technology, DVC, French and mathematics. Marie is working to support new and establishing teachers in her role on the Initial Teacher Education Taskforce, with a particular focus on ensuring that new teachers are prepared and supported as they enter their vocation. Marie is based in the Christchurch Field Office and works with PPTA members in the Aoraki and Waitaha-Canterbury regions.

Rachel Burnett has been a Field Officer with the Palmerston North office of PPTA Te Wehengarua since September 2022 after working as an English teacher for 6 years. Rachel taught in Dargaville and Porirua and had leadership roles in literacy and DMIC (Developing Mathmatical Inquiry Communities) pedagogy. She was the regional chair of Northland Lower and then briefly of Wellington. Before becoming a teacher, Rachel was Education Vice-President of the Auckland University Students’ Association. Rachel currently lives in Ōtaki with her partner, a doted on cat, and too many books.

Michael Cabral-Tarry joined PPTA Te Wehengarua as a field officer in January 2022.  Prior to this, he was a History and Social Studies teacher for 14 years and taught at schools across Northland and Auckland.  During his time as a teacher, Michael worked a learning area lead, dean, SENCO, and within-schools teacher in a Kāhui Ako.  He served as the regional chair of PPTA’s Tāmaki Makarau Auckland Region for 7 years, and was a founder of the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators’ Network, the national network of expertise and subject association for Social Studies in New Zealand

Compass, InsideOUT 

Talk Title: Rainbow Inclusive Teaching Practice 

Topic: Compass, Te Ūpoko o te Ika/Wellington Regional Schools Coordinator from InsideOUT, will deliver a session about making your teaching practice safer and more inclusive for rainbow ākonga. They will also discuss resources that InsideOUT have developed to aid teachers and their schools in embedding these principles of rainbow inclusion at various levels within learning environments.

Compass is a nonbinary queer person who is passionate about queer liberation, education and community building. For the past four years they have been involved with InsideOUT, supporting rainbow diversity groups and facilitating rainbow professional development for school staff, and moved into the role of Wellington/Te Ūpoko o te Ika School's coordinator in May 2021.

Nik Densem and Tamara Yuill Proctor

Fiona Humphries 

Chris Abercrombie 

Chris Abercrombie has been an active member of PPTA Te Wehengarua for a number of years and has recently stepped into the role as Acting President. Chris believes PPTA plays a significant role in both representing the voice of teachers and ensuring that young people have access to high quality public education to enable them to be the best they can be.

Chris has witnessed many times the power of public education to make a positive change in young people’s lives.  It was Mrs Kelly, Chris’s history teacher, who inspired him to be the same great teacher for other kids. 

Chris has been teaching History and Social Studies for the past 18 years in a number of schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. He has currently taken leave from James Hargest College in Invercargill to carry out his Acting President responsibilities.

Chris is married with three children and is very thankful to his understanding family for supporting this mahi.

Samantha Jenkinson  

Natalie Jump  

Louise Ryan  

Nikki Weston 

Penetana Williams