That time of year again

That time of year again

Just after the release of the 2014 Nation­al Cer­ti­fic­ate of Edu­ca­tion­al Achieve­ment (NCEA) res­ults, I was con­tac­ted by a journ­al­ist writ­ing an art­icle on our nation­al qual­i­fic­a­tion and altern­at­ive credentials […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

My own country”

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It has been a rite of pas­sage for young New Zeal­anders, liv­ing in a small island nation at the bot­tom of the world, to travel over­seas. It is my experience […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Early Starts

Early Starts

In 1950s New Zea­l­and it was unusu­al for moth­ers with pre-school chil­dren to be in paid work. My moth­er was an excep­tion, sup­ple­ment­ing the fam­ily income by work­ing night shifts […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

The importance of being a father

The importance of being a father

The past three years have flashed by and once again we have faced a nation­al elec­tion dur­ing which, inev­it­ably, edu­ca­tion was under the spot­light, with a raft of ideas bandied […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Lest we forget

Lest we forget

In a dis­cus­sion with a par­ent about the wide range of inter­na­tion­al trips and exchanges avail­able to stu­dents these days, he regret­fully com­men­ted, “In my day a tour of a […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Young, gifted and here

Edu­ca­tion dis­course, like many pro­fes­sions, is littered with acronyms like NZQA, NCEA, RTLBs and ESOL. One acronym that I espe­cially dis­like is the abbre­vi­ation for gif­ted and tal­en­ted edu­ca­tion: GATE. […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Learning from your city

Learning from your city

The most effect­ive way to learn is by ‘doing’. In the digit­al world in which we live, tech­no­logy now enables stu­dents to reach bey­ond the classroom and their imme­di­ate environment […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Beyond the spirit educator

Beyond the spirit educator

An essen­tial skill taught when I atten­ded teach­ers’ col­lege as a train­ee in the 1970s was how to thread a pro­ject­or. In those sim­pler days, show­ing a film to a […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Taken for granted

Taken for granted

A few years ago I vis­ited Cam­bod­ia. The high­light was a trip to Siem Reap to see the largest reli­gious monu­ment in the world, Angkor Wat. This temple com­plex, originally […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.

Competitive disadvantage

Competitive disadvantage

Kick­ing a rugby ball or run­ning around a net­ball court on a wintry Sat­urday morn­ing is all part of a Kiwi edu­ca­tion. Sport has obvi­ous phys­ic­al bene­fits and also builds […]

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About Carol Craymer

Car­ol has an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury and has been prin­cip­al of Queen Mar­garet col­lege since 2004. Pri­or to mov­ing to Wel­ling­ton, she was assist­ant prin­cip­al at Orewa col­lege and deputy prin­cip­al at Taka­puna Gram­mar. How­ever, Car­ol is not all about ‘dotting the is’ and cross­ing the t’s’. She has also worked for Radio New Zea­l­and as an announ­cer, acted in Eng­land in a theatre troupe tour­ing schools and raised two daughters.