NLA Consulting: Navigating Literacy and Assessment

Make sure you have registered your teams. Spots have filled up quickly, not many left!

Ōtepoti Literacy Challenge - only a few spaces left...

If you haven't signed up yet it's not to late. Gather a team of four students and come along for a fun, fast-paced event celebrating reading, writing and teamwork.
Year 3–4 (10 team entries left)
Year 5–6 (3 team entries left)
Year 7–8 ( 8 team entries left)

When: Thursday 25th June
Where: Tahuna Normal Intermediate
Cost: $30 per team - includes a copy of the novel being used in the book challenge section

Register here: https://forms.gle/1pRhgzoPYK9hCGM98

Competition now closed. 🎉 CONGRATULATIONS to Angela Thompson and Yvette Derek Pierce! 🎉

🎉 COMPETITION | We’re Celebrating Our New Website! 🎉
Our new Global Ed website is now live — a more connected home designed to help educators anywhere in the world find Jill Eggleton’s literacy resources, wherever they’re teaching.

To celebrate, we’re giving away 2 prizes (2 winners) — and each winner will receive the new JillE Poems sets:
Year 3 pack + Year 4 pack

How to enter (takes 1 minute):
1️) Click here: https://globaled.co.nz/t/categories/jille-poems
2️) FIND THE HIDDEN PHRASE on the JillE Poems page
3️) Comment the phrase below
4️) Tag a colleague
5️) Share this post so other teachers can enter too Bonus: Every share counts as an extra entry.

Click the link and enter now — we’d love you to explore the new site.

Entries close March 26th, 2026. Winners announced April 2nd, 2026.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Meta, Facebook, or Instagram.

Reciprocal Reading support right here ⬇️✅️

Connectors (Reciprocal Reading)

If you want stronger comprehension, start with stronger talk.

Connectors uses a small-group, peer-to-peer approach based on reciprocal teaching—the comprehension framework developed by Annemarie Palincsar and Ann Brown.

Students take turns to read and lead the discussion, using the core strategies:
✅ Predicting • ✅ Clarifying • ✅ Questioning • ✅ Summarising
…with additional strategies—giving opinions, making connections, and visualising—to deepen thinking and oral language.

Structured literacy connection: A structured literacy approach includes explicit teaching of meaning and oral language.

Available through Scholastic: New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

Want more Connectors titles?
Many NZ & Aussie schools already use Connectors — and at Jill Eggleton Literacy, we're considering creating new titles.
👇 Comment Y3, Y4, or BOTH to help shape what we build next.

Explore Connectors + Into Connectors → https://www.globaled.co.nz/connectors

MoE Funded Structured Literacy Cohort 8​ - Apply Now

👉 Get started here: https://www.cognitioneducation.co.nz/structured-literacy/

Workshops will be delivered from Term 2, 2026 across NZ:
📍 Auckland | Hamilton | Tauranga | Christchurch | Dunedin | Online

Fully-funded through the Ministry of Education, this PLD supports schools to strengthen teacher confidence and lift literacy outcomes.​
​
Key Dates:​
📅 16 February – Applications open (via MoE PLD portal)​
📅 6 March – Applications close (last day to apply for funding)​
📅 25 March – Enrolment deadline with Cognition Education

Come and join us! We will be digging into transcription skills with a focus on morphology, making life easy for you as you work through the new English Curriculum, and share lots of practical tips and activities for Year 0 to 8. ECE we then pivot into the world of precursors for literacy and how to seamlessly embed this into daily ECE teaching, setting all learners up for literacy success. ✅️✅️

OLA PLD - From Talk to Text

We’re excited to kick off the year with From Talk to Text: Preparing Students for Writing through Literacy Foundations and Morphology, led by the fantastic Joy Allcock and Lauren Latimer.

These practical, engaging workshops are designed to support kaiako and teachers as we begin unpacking the writing component of the refreshed English Curriculum. From building strong oral language and early literacy foundations in ECE, to explicit morphology teaching across Phase 1–3, this PLD is all about hitting the ground running in 2026.

When: Thursday 26 February
Where: College of Education staffroom, 145 Union Street East, Dunedin
Time: Two workshops available – 3.30 and/or 5.45

We’re especially excited to welcome ECE kaiako alongside school teachers for rich cross-sector learning and shared conversations about writing development.

Register here: https://forms.gle/RYLXPsSyATsTKHPp9
Full details in the flier below.

Please share with your colleagues — we’d love to see you there!

If you haven't ordered these already, let me know! They are a must for all Year 3 and 4 students 😃

Poetry weaves rhythm, rhyme, and language into the fabric of literacy. Every line is a thread that strengthens reading and writing.

Jill’s new packs make this weave effortless: 10 poems at Year 3 and 10 poems at Year 4, structured 5-Day plans, and downloadable resources.

Bring colour and connection into your literacy block and see how students respond with joy and engagement.

https://www.globaled.co.nz/jille-poems

Thanks Jo for sharing!

OLA PLD - From Talk to Text

We’re excited to kick off the year with From Talk to Text: Preparing Students for Writing through Literacy Foundations and Morphology, led by the fantastic Joy Allcock and Lauren Latimer.

These practical, engaging workshops are designed to support kaiako and teachers as we begin unpacking the writing component of the refreshed English Curriculum. From building strong oral language and early literacy foundations in ECE, to explicit morphology teaching across Phase 1–3, this PLD is all about hitting the ground running in 2026.

When: Thursday 26 February
Where: College of Education staffroom, 145 Union Street East, Dunedin
Time: Two workshops available – 3.30 and/or 5.45

We’re especially excited to welcome ECE kaiako alongside school teachers for rich cross-sector learning and shared conversations about writing development.

Register here: https://forms.gle/RYLXPsSyATsTKHPp9
Full details in the flier below.

Please share with your colleagues — we’d love to see you there!

This cohort closes on 12 December. Please register for this if you haven't done so already. A great opportunity for schools to align assessment practice, work with the Smart Tool and strengthen school wide assessment going forward.

MOE-funded Assessment PLD – Applications Now Open!

Take advantage of fully funded professional learning designed to strengthen assessment capability across your school.

✔ 12 months of tailored support
✔ Six in-school PLD days
✔ Eight collaborative Communities of Practice
✔ Practical tools for real classrooms
✔ 19 expert facilitators ready to help

Our experienced team will match your school with the right facilitator and provide timely support nationwide.

Applications close 12 December – don’t miss out!

📅 Apply through the MOE PLD portal and partner with Cognition Education to bring clarity, consistency, and confidence to assessment.

👉 https://zurl.co/xss7C

Year 3 and 4 Poems are on sale now!

Poetry weaves rhythm, rhyme, and language into the fabric of literacy. Every line is a thread that strengthens reading and writing.

Jill’s new packs make this weave effortless: 10 poems at Year 3 and 10 poems at Year 4, structured 5-Day plans, and downloadable resources.

Bring colour and connection into your literacy block and see how students respond with joy and engagement.

https://www.globaled.co.nz/jille-poems

Kia ora koutou,

As we reach the end of another big year, we want to send a heartfelt thank you for your ongoing support of the Otago Literacy Association. Whether you came along to a workshop, encouraged ākonga to take part in our events, shared our posts, or championed literacy in your corner of Otago, we’re genuinely grateful.

We also want to acknowledge just how tough this year has been for all of us. As teachers and educators ourselves, we’ve felt the weight of the curriculum changes, the intense PLD, and then the extra round of changes in October. It’s been a lot to get our heads around! Despite this, we’ve been inspired by the resilience, professionalism, and heart we see in our early childhood centres and schools. Even with so much shifting around you, you’ve kept literacy engaging, joyful, and grounded in evidence-based practice so every ākonga can thrive.

Please know that as the Otago Literacy Association, we’re right here alongside you. Our committee remain committed to supporting kaiako, championing great literacy practice, and creating opportunities where both teachers and learners can flourish!

Poetry Competition

This year’s poetry competition was an absolute highlight. We received over 150 entries from across our local schools. Our guest judge, Rachel McCoubrey, a local author and illustrator, was blown away by the creativity, voice, and original thinking in the students’ work. She commented on the depth and freshness in the writing, and how difficult it was to choose winners from such a strong field.

Congratulations to all the tamariki and kaiako who entered. The standard was incredible, and we hope you’re as proud as we are.

Years 1-3
-First place ‘We are all the same’ by Jack Murdoch - Year 3 @ Grants Braes School
--Second place “Grandad Brian’ by Frederick Nimmo - Y3 @ Wānaka Primary
Third place “My Dog Roxy’ by Sathsara Kangara Mudiyanselage - Year 3 @ Wānaka Primary School
Highly commended
-Kaius Duncan - Year 3 Tapanui School
-Aarya Saini - Year 1 Andersons Bay School

Years 4-6
-First place ‘Family connections’ by Charlie Lunjevich - Year 6 Elmgrove School
-Second place ‘Echoes of the Forest’ by Josie Kelly - Year 5 Kaikorai Primary School
-Third place ‘Whispers of the Earth’ by Hannah Mueller - Year 5 Kaikorai Primary School
Highly commended
-Oscar Large - Year 5 Portobello School -
Skyla Facini - Year 6 Columba College

Years 7-8
-First place ‘Eagles Nest’ by Josie Settle - Year 7 Cromwell College
-Second place ‘Guilt’by Milly Tate - Year 8 Arrowtown School
-Third place ‘I am a writer.’ by Lilianah McMurray-Scherp - Year 8 Omakau School
Highly commended
-Francisco Strachan - Year 8 St Joseph's Primary School Queenstown
-Fiona Watt - Year 8 Tahuna Normal Intermediate

2026 Save The Date

We’re thrilled to share a sneak peek of what’s coming in 2026. Next year, we’re placing a stronger spotlight on ākonga, with more opportunities for students to engage, create, and shine. One of the most exciting additions is our Inaugural Ōtepoti Literacy Challenge! A brand-new event designed to spark teamwork, problem-solving, and a love of literacy across Years 3–8. Alongside this, we’ve lined up a fantastic series of workshops for both students and teachers, including sessions with inspiring local and national literacy leaders. Keep an eye out for the full details, but for now, please save the dates! Feel free to print the attached poster and share with your teaching team.

NZLA conference 2027 - Ōtepoti/Dunedin

As we look ahead, we’re also beginning early planning for the NZLA Conference 2027, which we are proudly hosting here in Ōtepoti. We’d love to gather ideas, suggestions, and big-picture thinking from the people who know literacy best ...you! As a thank you for completing the survey, all people who include their email address will go into a draw for a $30 NW voucher. We will add you to our conference mail-out and keep you up to date with further conference information during 2026 and 2027. The draw will be done on Monday 15th December, 2025.

If you have thoughts on themes, keynote speakers, workshops, partnerships, or anything you’d love to see showcased, please take a moment to share them with us. Your insights will help shape a conference that genuinely reflects our region and serves educators across Aotearoa.

Please fill in the survey here - https://forms.gle/LVtyhLZ9JuWLS6ZBA

Thank you for being part of such a passionate, creative, and supportive literacy community. We can’t wait to see what we create together in 2026 and beyond.

Ngā mihi nui,
Otago Literacy Association Team