Nurturing Literacy Hawkes Bay

19/12/2025

What a busy 2025 it has been. I am truly grateful to be able to support so many children and young people on their literacy journey. To all my students you have earnt a well deserved break and to all their whanau thank you for the continued support at home.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful summer break.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

01/10/2025

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

Nurturing Literacy is committed to raising awareness and supporting students with dyslexia.With the right strategies and support, every learner can succeed and feel confident in their abilities.

Every learner deserves the opportunity to shine ✨📚

02/09/2025

📢 NZ’s Writing Crisis
What We’re Doing About It

The Ministry of Education has just released its latest newsletter, including the Make it Write Fact Sheet seen below. The results are worrying, 61% of Year 8 students are more than a year behind in writing.

In response, the Ministry has announced a targeted action plan, Make It Write, to lift student writing achievement. This includes the introduction of an online writing tool for Years 6–8 to be introduced in 2026. While this is a positive step, the scale of the challenge highlights the need for strong, evidence-based writing instruction.

At Nurturing Literacy, I’ve been on a huge professional learning journey over the past year to better understand the building blocks of writing success. I’ve engaged in ongoing professional development to ensure our approach reflects best practice, grounded in the principles of The Writing Revolution® and aligned with the new New Zealand English Curriculum.

✨ In our lessons, we focus on the key writing strands under the heading Composition in the NZC. Students are explicitly taught and supported to:

* Build a strong foundation in sentence structure and grammar
* Progressively develop from simple sentences to compound and complex ones
* Learn techniques such as appositives to expand and enrich their writing
* Working towards paragraph planning and writing for a range of purposes

By breaking writing down into clear, teachable skills, we give students the confidence and tools they need to succeed.

At Nurturing Literacy, we are committed to closing these gaps one strong sentence at a time.

Here is the Link to the Ministry Newsletter -
https://mailchi.mp/news/te-poutahu-curriculum-newsletter-sep2025?e=2d1a028d1c&fbclid=IwY2xjawMjJEdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFkNEZpNk9OcDBMU241SWJXAR67BV7eLsVxRIStA2unF7gqWfb1tst9imLPVgB7Nh31sE5OttlafpoOXN9EYQ_aem_dI8Lb68FR6N47pJ_l8pvsA %20It%20Right
and
The New Zealand English Curriculum https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/5637289329.p

27/06/2025

I'm incredibly proud to share that the institute I trained under has officially been selected as a Tier 2 and 3 intervention provider by the Ministry of Education! This recognition reflects the depth, quality, and impact of their work — and by extension, the work I’m so passionate about in literacy intervention.

Being trained by such a respected provider means I’m grounded in evidence-based, high-impact approaches that truly make a difference for our most struggling learners. It’s an honour to be part of a network committed to closing the literacy gap and giving every student the tools they need to thrive.

The mission of IMSLE is to provide quality accredited MSL training and coursework

10/05/2025

🌸 Happy Mother's Day! 🌸

Today we celebrate all the nurturing Literacy Mums who go above and beyond to support their children's learning journeys. Whether you're reading books, or helping with homework—your dedication makes a world of difference.

Thank you for being such a vital part of your child's literacy journey and for partnering with us to help them thrive. We see your efforts, and we’re so grateful for you. 💖

Wishing you a day filled with love, joy, and well-deserved appreciation!

11/04/2025

What a fantastic start to the year it’s been! Term 1 has flown by, and it's been wonderful to see the energy and enthusiasm our students have brought to their literacy learning.

A huge well done to all our tamariki for the effort and progress you’ve made this term — your hard work is really paying off.

We’d also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our parents and whānau for the ongoing support at home. Whether it’s listening to reading, helping with spelling, or encouraging daily revision, your involvement truly makes a difference.

As we head into the break, I’ll be spending the first part of it attending the annual SPELD NZ conference on Navigating Neurodiversity — an exciting opportunity for professional development and learning. I’m looking forward to bringing back fresh insights to support all our learners even more effectively.

Wishing everyone a safe and restful holiday, and I can’t wait to see what Term 2 brings!

18/02/2025

Kia ora everyone! 🌟 We've had a fantastic start to Term 1 at Nurturing Literacy. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with my returning students and welcome new members to our whānau.

In these initial lessons, I've focused on getting to know my new students and revisiting previously taught skills with those returning. This has set a clear plan for the term ahead, and already there has been some great engagement.

At Nurturing Literacy, we recognise that each child is unique, so lessons are tailored to meet the individual needs of students. I assess where each learner is on their literacy journey and ensure that skills, from basic to more complex, are developed at a pace that suits them. For some students, incorporating more multisensory approaches helps keep them engaged and enthusiastic about learning.

Today’s lesson seamlessly integrated phonological awareness, reading, and spelling all whilst "playing a game". The student listened to words, identified individual sounds (with a particular focus on vowel sounds to collect Pirate Petes swords), constructed these words using letter tiles, and then read the words aloud. They were rewarded with a fun game of trying not to pop Pirate Pete with a sword, which added an element of excitement to the learning process. The student also practiced writing some of these words on the board at the end of the game.

Using games in lessons provides a valuable opportunity to reinforce concepts in a low-pressure environment. This approach encourages repetition, which is crucial for learning, while keeping the experience enjoyable and engaging. I am continuously adapting my teaching strategies to find what works best for each student. My goal is to nurture a love for learning and help my students thrive! 📚✨

21/12/2024

As Nurturing Literacy prepares to wrap up for 2024, I want to take a moment to thank all of my amazing students and their whānau for your unwavering support, commitment, and dedication to learning this year. I also want to take this opportunity to again share my WHY, and what drives me to continue doing what I do.

In 2020, when my son was 7 years old, living in a foreign country and learning a new language, we were told he had a severe learning difficulty – Dyslexia. The support we received during our time in France was incredible and ultimately sparked my passion to pursue a new career. I made it my mission to ensure that when we returned to New Zealand, my son would continue receiving the support he deserved. To do so, I gained the accreditation and qualifications necessary to begin Nurturing Literacy and provide targeted literacy intervention to not only my son but many others in need.

Fast forward to December 19th, 2024, at Pettigrew Arena. There stands my son, a Kaitiaki, in front of his entire primary school, their friends, and whānau, leading the end-of-year prizegiving. Not only did he MC the entire evening, but he also spoke in his third language, Te Reo Māori. This is the same child who, 18 months ago, was speaking, reading, and writing in French, with no knowledge of Te Reo – except for the haka.

To my son, you inspire me every day. You are living proof that no “label” can hold you back from achieving greatness. Thank you for letting me share your story with the world and showing others that everyone's learning journey is unique to them.

It is a true privilege to continue working alongside my son and so many others, helping to unlock their literacy potential.

To all my students, keep dreaming big and pushing those boundaries. I can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for you all.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy a well deserved break.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Alex

13/12/2024

A great infographic from the International Dyslexia Association outlining the WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY of Structured Literacy and what we do here at Nurturing Literacy.

Our InfoMap has an upgrade! Click on elements of the InfoMap to learn more about each area! Check out morphemes, phoneme/graphemes and vocabulary/background knowledge first! More content coming soon to each area.

https://dyslexialibrary.org/structured-literacy-education-infographic/

17/11/2024

Ongoing professional development is not only something I value in my role as an MSL Educational Specialist but is essential to maintain my accreditation under the Australian Dyslexia Association. This commitment to ongoing learning allows me to stay up to date and responsive to the needs of my students.

I am excited to announce that 2024 ends with the completion of my SPELD certificate. Completing this certificate allows me to work in partnership with SPELD NZ to access resources, including subsidies for tuition through their financial assistance scheme https://www.speld.org.nz/our-services/financial-support

If you are interested in finding out more please contact me at [email protected]

06/10/2024

A great run down from Learning Matters highlighting the critical role of differentiated practice and targeted, individualised support in fostering literacy growth and why I do what I do.

With the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) mandate for Structured Literacy taking effect in 2025, literacy education in New Zealand is evolving. This is such an exciting step forward, as it means teachers