FUTURE GENERATION

Rachel Allwood has been a Head of House teacher at Western Springs College Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, and has recently been appointed to Across School Teachers for the Kāhui Ako te Waitematā (Community of Learning).

Where did you grow up? I grew up in a little town just outside of Worcester in the UK. I moved to New Zealand when I was 18, and although I miss my hometown and the people from there, New Zealand very much has my heart and I couldn’t really imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

How did you get into teaching? It was actually just as I was finishing my degree. I have always been interested in science so decided to study Biomedicine. I had always just assumed I would move into research, but one day a group of my friends were trying to figure out how the eye processes images; everyone was stuck, so I got up and started explaining it from a different angle. I saw the moment that they just clicked and that was it for me. I decided to give teaching a go and, from my very first lesson I knew that was what I wanted to do. I feel very lucky that being in the classroom still gives me the same joy I experienced all the years ago at university.

What made you want to become an Across School Teacher? It was the focus on wellbeing that really got me interested in the role. I have spent the last few years at Springs working as a Head of House which involved providing pastoral care for over 300 students. In this new role I saw the immense challenges our young people face when it comes to mental health and I wanted to do something that would make a positive impact for them.

Tell me about an initiative that you are excited about. We have just started discussing how we can help parents navigate the difficult issues that many children face. After all, parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. We are looking into getting specialists to come in to host talks with parents about how to have the difficult conversations and how to spot signs that a child might be struggling. Parents are such an important part of a child’s wellbeing and it is such an important first step to help parents have those conversations with their kids.

What do you most enjoy about your job? Seeing the impact you can make with very small actions. I had students reach out recently to let me know what they are up to. They wanted to thank me for a conversation we had had at the end of a lesson a few years before. It was just a few minutes between classes but they said it made them feel seen and cared for. As a teacher you have these conversations without even thinking, but knowing that these small gestures can make a child feel safe and heard is something very special.

What is something people might not have guessed about you? I am a trained radio DJ! I spend one night a week at Starship with the charity Radio Lollipop. We go into the wards and provide play for the kids as well as running the hospital radio station. Patients can come in and speak on the radio, request songs and enter competitions. We are just like any other radio station, but we play more of The Wiggles.  PN

I LOVE LUCY BOOK REVIEW:

‘IT’ - STEPHEN KING - 16+

“Come on back and we’ll see if you remember the simplest thing of all - how it is to be children, secure in belief and thus afraid of the dark.”

‘IT’ is an ancient being that has been feeding off the children of Derry, Maine since the beginning of time. ‘IT’ shows itself in many ways - most commonly as a demented clown called Pennywise. Other times, ‘IT’ reaches into your subconscious and pulls out your deepest fears, appearing to you as the thing that will haunt you most. ‘IT’ lives in the sewers beneath Derry, and ‘IT’ isn’t afraid to come out and play.

As children begin to go missing a group of seven friends are pulled together to fight and defeat ‘IT’, unbeknownst to the rest of the town. But then, as most children do, they grew up, they left Derry, went their separate ways and forgot about the monster living under the small town. 27 years later as ‘IT’ begins to rise from its slumber, they return to fight ‘IT’ once more.

Although this is a mammoth 1000 page book, Stephen King’s descriptive writing style is vivid and engaging to read. His characters are really easy to relate to and have incredibly complex personalities and unique personality traits. When I finished the book I wanted to re-read ‘IT’ because I missed the characters and town of Derry, Maine.

I really enjoyed this book. It has been something I have wanted to read since ‘IT’: Chapter One came out when I was 10 years old. ‘IT’ is now my new favourite book and I rate it at 5 out of 5. (LUCY KENNEDY)  PN