Educator honoured Locals honoured by newly-minted Kin

His 2007 book Clarity in the Classroom has been described as the leading New Zealand text on assessment for learning.

“It feels weird, really,” Absolum said, commenting on his award. “I think awards are a good thing until you get one yourself and you think, ‘Me? Really?’ And then the texts and emails and messages flood in.”

An unexpected benefit was a reconnection with people he hadn’t seen in years – one of whom had been in his new entrant class. Another bonus was the fact his daughter, her husband and children were visiting on King’s Birthday Monday.

“They woke up, and I insisted that they

Commissioner recognised

King’s Birthday Honours recipients with links to the Mahurangi area include Kevin Prime (Ngāti Hine), a commissioner of the Environment Court since 2003. Prime has played a key role in the court’s marathon appeal hearing against the granting of resource consent for a regional megadump in the Dome Valley. The court is currently considering its decision.

Prime, of Motatau, is a farmer, forester and conservationist. He has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) recognising more than half a century’s service to Māori, the environment and health.

A member of the Waitangi Tribunal since 2021, the 79-year-old’s numerous previous awards and honours include that of Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, in 2016, for services to conservation and Māori.

read the Herald,” he laughed.

The honour came 11 years after Absolum’s wife and fellow education professional, Mary Chamberlain, became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Working with the Education Ministry’s Kāhui Ako education and training initiative, she has had considerable involvement with schools in the area.

Michael and Mary have lived in Sandspit for 10 years, but their association with the coastal settlement goes back decades, since he began visiting a long-standing resident in the mid-1970s. When his friend died aged 90, Michael became a trustee of his estate, and by then they had “become so attracted to the whole area that we decided to that we’d move up from urban Auckland”. Absolum said he and Mary were now “reasonably retired”, even as their thriving enterprise, Evaluation Associates, continues to support schools’ efforts to develop their assessment systems.

“We’ve been lucky enough and smart enough, I think, to see our company get to the size where it’s able to provide high-quality services to teachers and school leaders,” he said. “We’re very, very proud of that.”

From their striking home overlooking the estuary, they enjoy a lifestyle featuring a fishing boat, membership of the Warkworth Golf Club and the Sandspit Residents and Ratepayers Association – and are friends of Heron’s Flight vineyard owner David Hoskins, “drinking the wine in great quantities”. Golf, fishing, wine – what a combination!