Senior appointments

Katie Glynn (Director of Sport) and Sarah Boasman (Head of Science Faculty) have both moved on recently to new roles. Fortunately, the two new appointments to these senior positions were relatively seamless – Angie because she was already in the acting role, and Bernard because he was able to negotiate a start date that coincided with Sarah’s departure. We wish both Angie and Bernard the best in their careers at Diocesan.

DIRECTOR OF SPORT

Anyone who has stood poolside at a water polo game (or in fact any Dio sports game) will know the distinctive accent that booms out from the Dio coach. Angie came to New Zealand in 2014 with a reputation as a brilliant water polo player and double Olympian for England who was putting that skill and energy into coaching. We were lucky enough to engage her as Sports Manager with responsibility for the water sports of swimming, water polo, sailing and underwater hockey and the land-based sport of lacrosse. Dio already had a pretty good national reputation in all these sports, but under Angie’s guidance this has grown. In terms of water polo, Angie started with the Years 7 and 8 teams. Her aim was to build depth so that the premier teams were not reliant on one group of girls, but could draw on a succession of girls who had tournament experience and a winning edge. Those girls are now leaving Dio as the National Champions of 2019 and 2018. (We were denied the ‘3peat’ by COVID.)

With Katie Glynn’s move to the coaching of the Black Sticks hockey team and her subsequent move to England to work with Mark Hager (definitely New Zealand’s loss), Angie has been promoted to the Director of Sport. Angie is very appreciative of the work Katie did to really streamline the work of the sports managers and ensure consistent messages of selection, The rate of participation in sport at Dio is 82%, well ahead of the 42% national rate and this is a statistic that Angie is keen to maintain – and build on.

Angie Winstanley-Smith (right) has been promoted to Director of Sport as Katie Glynn (inset) moves on to coach the Black Sticks.

training and coaching, and she aims to continue that work.

While Angie is passionate about winning, she is equally passionate about the development of skills that can be taken away from sport as lifelong capacities. She has long-term plans to develop the student coaching programme, to develop a common culture of pride and resilience, to foster our New Zealand representatives and to support USA College applications through the many networks that our sports managers have. ‘The Dio Way’ coach development programme will be launched in 2021. The intention is to create a supportive environment for coaches to learn and develop. We can always learn so much from other sports codes, and experiences are always similar – so to enable conversations between our coaches will be invaluable to our overall sporting progression. Further to this, we will continue in our support and growth of Dio’s own coaches – students who dedicate free time to help our younger generations. In recent years we have seen many Dio Old Girls return as coaches.

The rate of participation in sport at Dio is 82%, well ahead of the 42% national rate. This is a statistic that Angie is keen to maintain – and build on – as girls have access to the 32 sports on offer. We are enormously proud of all the results Dio girls achieve, but Angie knows from personal experience that providing opportunities to play with friends contributes to some of a girl’s fondest memories of school life. One of the key challenges that Angie sees in sport is retention. While our participation rates at Dio are excellent, the drop-off post school is significant. Angie would love to see us encouraging more involvement in sport once the school journey is done. This does not have to be through playing a sport, but officiating and coaching too. Angie’s driver is a ‘sport is for life’ philosophy.

It is great to see Angie promoted to this role and we look forward to many sporting successes and the fun of being involved for some time.

HOF SCIENCE

Our new HOF Science is Bernard Potter who joins us after several years as Teacher in Charge of Biology at St Kentigern College. The fact that he is a biologist meant he was able to fit neatly into the classes vacated by previous HOF Sarah Boasman. Bernard has had an immediate impression of the Dio girls in those classes – welcoming, enthusiastic, self-managing, focused, independent – and he is looking forward to working with more of the girls across the campus.

It’s not surprising that Bernard values those capacities in his students as they are the same qualities that he brings to his leadership. He is passionate about motivating young people to be informed citizens who will have a positive influence over the future of our planet and he values collaboration and collegiality in the teams that he leads. Bernard says he loves the idea of inspiring students to develop a passion for the sciences,

Inset: Previous HOF Sarah Boasman. Top: New HOF Science Bernard Potter.

especially when they are surprised by this newfound passion for understanding the world around them. In his classroom he strives to encourage students to think creatively in order to problem solve and continually develop their abilities to naturally collaborate and encourage each other in their learning.

In recognition of his work in science, Bernard was awarded the Sir Peter Blake Trust Environmental Teacher Award in 2014. This involved a

two-week trip to the subantarctic Auckland Islands with the New Zealand Navy and a team of climate scientists, marine biologists, botanists and geologists. These scientists were doing preparatory work toward setting up a station to monitor the effects of climate change. The highlights for Bernard were being up close and personal with New Zealand sea lions, royal albatrosses and yellow-eyed penguins on these extremely remote islands. Bernard was also awarded a Royal Society Fellowship in 2001.

We warmly welcome Bernard to Diocesan and look forward to a long partnership together.

Bernard takes over the reins from Sarah Boasman who joined the Science Faculty at Diocesan in 2003 as a biology teacher who had recently immigrated to New Zealand with her physics-teaching husband, Rob, and a young family.

Sarah’s excellent knowledge of science and biology in particular, her warmth and creativity in the classroom and the relationships she fostered with her students made her a popular and successful classroom teacher and team member. Many Dio girls have ventured into sciencebased careers indebted to Sarah’s teaching and the many hours she devoted to them, both in and out of the classroom.

Sarah was appointed to the role of Head of Faculty in 2007 when Jackie Bay moved on to the Liggins Institute. In her 13 years as Head of Faculty she has overseen the introduction of the International Baccalaureate Diploma and Middle Years Programme and further strengthened the quality of science teaching for girls at Diocesan. She pushed the School’s involvement in the Science Fair, Bio Olympiads, Brain Bee competitions and the like to extend girls beyond the classroom, and was a strong role model for women in science.

Always keen to demonstrate the need for lifelong learning, Sarah was awarded a Royal Society of NZ Endeavour Fellowship in 2014 and Bernard says he loves the idea of inspiring students to develop a passion for the sciences, especially when they are surprised by this newfound passion for understanding the world around them.

worked at the Liggins Institute where she enjoyed working in the field, both practically in terms of the experience she had in research and experiments, but also working with world leaders in cancer treatment.

Sarah’s involvement at Dio has extended into the exploration of the outdoors that brought her to New Zealand in the first place. She has been on many Duke of Edinburgh camps and scaled Tongariro and Ruapehu as part of EOTC camps. She also led a successful mentoring programme, matching staff with students who needed help managing their busy extracurricular lives.

Sarah is a woman of strong faith and Dio was always a good fit for her in that respect. Her own values match those of the School and she has enjoyed working in a school where people matter. She has made many firm friends and leaves a legacy of excellence in teaching. She moves to Baradene College as Head of Faculty, thirsty for new experiences and challenges and we wish her all the best. With the other half of ‘Team Boasman’ still at Dio, we know we will stay in touch.

FAREWELL TO JENNY WILLIAMS

A long-serving Dio staff member who will be remembered by Old Girls, current students and staff throughout the School, Jenny Williams came to work in the Junior School 26 years ago, in February 1994. She was a very popular and successful Year 6 teacher and was also the Dean of Years 4, 5 and 6 for many years. When then Head of the Junior School Mrs Deirdre McOnie retired in 2008, Jenny took on the role of acting Deputy Principal for three terms.

More recently, she has taught different levels in the School and has been instrumental in delivering a component of the Years 1 and 2 physical education and music programmes.

Jenny has always been a keen sportswoman, playing tennis and squash at the Remuera Racquets Club. She carried her love of those games through to her coaching of padder tennis, tennis and squash teams at school. An enthusiastic chess player, Jenny started up the Junior School chess club, which meets every Friday at lunchtime and organises the school chess competitions, achieving great success.

Over the years, Jenny has also enjoyed organising and leading the Year 6 camps to MERC at Long Bay and has always been eager to help with chapel services when called upon.

Jenny is retiring at the end of the year and will be sorely missed by all. Her bold personality, positive outlook on life and unparalleled sense of humour have made her a most memorable and popular member of the Junior School staff. Jenny is looking forward to her retirement and spending more time going for long walks on the beach and playing squash and tennis.