PROGRAMME LEADER - LAURA NALDER

Kia ora koutou katoa!

My name is Laura Nalder and I am responsible for leading the Summer Learning Journey in 2019-2020. I live in Nelson with my whānau - my husband Jono, daughter Laila, and cat Fidel. This is my second year working on the Summer Learning Journey. I used to be a Team Leader and teacher at Pt England School in Auckland. In 2017 I completed my masters in education with Rachel Williamson-Dean as my supervisor, and in 2018 I moved to Nelson where Laila was born.

I have travelled to many countries around the world, and I have lived all over New Zealand (NZ). I love going to interesting places - like camping in the desert in Jordan, motorbiking in the mountains in Chile, painting in Palestine, or teaching in Haiti! While I love to travel, Aotearoa is very much my home. I enjoy the surfing, mountain biking, snowboarding, dancing and music that you can experience in NZ. I also love living in such a multicultural country.

Living in Nelson is amazing, but I do miss my students in Auckland very much! It is wonderful to be involved with this programme and to continue to see so many students all over NZ extending their learning over the summer holidays. As a teacher, I have seen the positive effect that continued blogging over summer has on students' literacy achievement and enjoyment in learning.

I am very excited to be leading a dynamic, motivated team to bring you the 2019-2020 Summer Learning Journey!

If you have any questions about this year's Summer Learning Journey please do not hesitate to contact me.

Email: laura.nalder@auckland.ac.nz

PROGRAMME FOUNDER - RACHEL WILLIAMSON-DEAN

Kia ora everyone!

My name is Rachel Williamson-Dean and I am the original founder of the Summer Learning Journey (SLJ) programme. I live in Auckland with my son, Aronui, and my husband, Andy. Aronui is nine years old and he is in Year 5 at his primary school. Here are a few pictures of us!

I started on this journey with the SLJ five years ago. At the time I was hired to design a holiday blogging programme for a small number of schools in east Auckland. Over time, the programme has grown and we are now able to offer it in 50 schools across the country. How lucky are we?!

This year we have made an important change to the leadership structure of the SLJ programme. Please join me in welcoming our new leader, Ms Laura Nalder, who will have primary responsibility for the programme over the 2019-2020 summer holiday. I will be serving in a mentoring and advisory capacity.

On that note, I would like to personally thank all of the generous partners and funders who have worked with our programme over the past five years. We are deeply appreciative of your ongoing support.

If you would like more information about the SLJ programme, do not hesitate to contact our leadership team. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

Email: rachel.williamson@auckland.ac.nz

Phone: (09) 623-8899 ext. 46437

PROGRAMME ADVISOR - HAZEL FOWLER

Kia ora,

My name is Hazel Fowler and I am so excited to return to the Summer Learning Journey for 2019. I am a year eight teacher in east Auckland and this is my third year as part of the Summer Learning Journey leadership team.

I was born and raised in Auckland, but have spent a lot of time in Northland as that is where my family come from. As a child, many weekends and summers were spent on my grandparents' farm in Hukerenui. I love to travel and have journeyed up and down Aotearoa, and also overseas to places like Iceland and America! A few years ago, I spent three months working at a YMCA summer camp in Arizona and it was the best summer of my life!

I also enjoy reading, playing netball, baking and spending time with my friends & whānau. I am passionate about helping people and in 2017 and 2018 I ran the half marathon in Auckland to raise money for Youthline.

I look forward to reading your blogs and getting to know you over the summer. To those of you joining us for the first time, welcome, and to those of you who have blogged before, welcome back!

Email: h.fowler@auckland.ac.nz