At Long Bay College we are lucky to have a wonderful collection of teaching staff. Getting to know our school means getting to know our faculty. This month we would like to introduce our community to Miss Laura Curwood.
Miss Curwood has a deep connection with the college, Laura explains; ‘Long Bay has always been a part of my journey. My mum was a student here, I grew up in the area and then attended Long Bay as a student for a few years. I met some of my closest life-long friends while studying here at Long Bay College. So when the opportunity came up to work here, it felt like the right choice for me! Now I have the best school whānau I could ever ask for – Long bay to me is about connections and relationships.’
Being at the college for nearly 10 years, Laura is now our Head of Faculty for EAP (English for Academic Purposes). She teaches senior and junior EAP classes, as well as some Year 10 Social Sciences. At times she has taught both dance and drama as well.
Creating great community within her Faculty Laura is an innovative teacher. Always looking for new ways to engage her students in learning. Miss Curwood built ARVR (Virtual Reality for Schools) in the classroom, connecting to other classrooms around the world as a teaching tool. Her teaching peers speak highly of her, describing her as always positive and professional in her approach, an awesome teacher, a great leader, and an amazing person.
When connecting with Laura, we asked what was her proudest teaching moment.
‘There isn’t one particular stand-out moment, as there are so many. Sometimes they are small like a student achieving their goal of the day and sometimes bigger like seeing a student get into an amazing career that they had been striving for. The Multicultural Show each year is also always an extremely proud moment for me.’
When sitting down with Miss Curwood, we asked her three questions;
What advice would you give to your students as they leave school?
Try everything! Give everything a go and make mistakes. This is the best time to fail and then get back up again. Travel as much as you can and remember that people only show online what they want you to see.
What did you want to be growing up?
It changed all the time! For a long time, I wanted to be a dancer. I then changed to wanting to be an entertainment industry lawyer, however by the time I was about 16 I knew that teaching and education could be a good fit for me.
What is your funniest teaching moment?
Too many to mention. I love having a laugh with my year 9 GSC students and the Global Studies team are always cracking me up.
Miss Curwood’s teaching inspires others around her. Here are some other comments about Miss Curwood and why Long Bay College is lucky to have her.
She really has a heart for the students! She is very patient with every student in class, encouraging her students to try and reach their full potential.
Laura is an amazing teacher. Her passion and dedication are beyond words.
She opens her mind to new learning and her heart to help the students.
An absolute role model to both staff and students alike – from concept to completion, she’ll find a way to get things done!
If you would like to nominate a member of faculty for us to interview or have any testimonials you would like to share about any one of our incredible staff, please send us an email at [email protected]
