Thursday 28th November 2024

This year at our Senior Prizegiving event we introduced a new award in our Special Awards category.  This award is named after Mrs Janet Hammond-Tooke, one of the driving forces behind our early ESOL programme.  Janet started at Waitaki in 1995 and was with us until her retirement in early 2020.  She worked mostly with international students during these 25 years of service.   

In the early years Janet primarily worked with about 20 students, mostly from Hong Kong or Thailand, with a few from Korea, Russia, and Japan.  Over the years she also had students begin to come in from places like Argentina, Finland, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. As the years passed, we also started to have more Tongan and other Pasifika students come over and take up sporting scholarships. 

At its peak, the ESOL programme had approximately 50 students, made up both international students and New Zealand residents.  During this time, Janet had the support of another part-time teacher and some teacher aides, to enable her to meet the needs of so many students. There were even special assemblies held, showcasing cultural instruments, and an annual end-of-year event combined with both Waitaki Girls’ and St Kevin’s international students where everyone bought a dish from their home country to share.   

Over time the numbers of international students started to drop, partially due to events like the SARS scare and the Global Financial Crisis.  This led to Janet to taking on some English classes as well as her role in ESOL. Towards the end of her teaching career Janet became chronically ill with breathing problems, but has fond memories of her many students helping her out by carrying things all over the place for her.  She misses teaching and the students, but she has been able to keep in touch with some past students via Facebook and is always pleased to receive updates on their lives. 

Janet was disappointed to not be able to join us at Senior Prizegiving, but is honoured to have the award created and named for her. 

The first recipient is Atul Basliyal.  His teachers have described him as a positive and happy character who loves chatting about cricket, his favourite player being Virat Kholi.  He has worked hard since joining us earlier in the year on both his written and spoken English and is deserving of this award.  Atul’s growth both inside and outside of the classroom will set the tone for other ESOL students in the years to come. 

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