Biography of Patrick McEntee :Bevan Werry Speaker 2009-2011

I was educated at De La Salle College in Mangere, and graduated from The University of Auckland with a double major in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. After spells of teaching at Putaruru High School and Liston College in West Auckland, I moved with our young family to the sunny Hawke's Bay, and have been a teacher at Havelock North High School for the past 22years.

I have taught both Calculus and/or Statistics and Modelling to Scholarship level just about every year I have been teaching, and have taught extension mathematics at Havelock for many, many years. During this time I have worked with many resources and developed a number myself. In 2008 I was awarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship to Australia, which enabled me to view the delivery of mathematics in Victoria and in South Australia. I was particularly interested in the use of technology in Australia, given that an aggressive attempt was being made to usher CAS into our junior school at about the same time. I was also saddened to see the extent to which our senior curriculum had dropped away in comparison to the one that operated in Australia.

On the local scene I am probably best known as a vehement critic of NCEA and of the people who promoted it. I remain implacably opposed to the introduction of CAS into our junior school, and am thrilled with the move away from its imminent implementation that occurred just recently. I certainly am not against change, but the people who pursue drastic change must be prepared to argue their case with conviction, and if their case is good enough, we will all be clambering on board. They must also realise that when persuasion has failed, some of us have been around too long, and have developed too much of a fondness for the subject to be bullied into adopting something we do not believe in.

I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed the Bevan Werry Speaker because I know I will get to meet many people who share my love for the subject and who wish to give their pupils the best possible experience in the subject.

Just recently I have written a number of problem-solving resources, many of which involve high level thinking. They include

• Divisibility properties
• Problem-solving with HCF/LCM
• Problem-solving with Graphs
• Problem-Solving with Modulo Arithmetic.

I also have developed a number of resources for Scholarship Statistics and Modelling, and in recent years I have co-hosted Scholarship Calculus seminars for teachers with my HOD and long-time colleague, Mr Andrew Wright

I certainly would be prepared to share my thoughts with other teachers/pupils on any of the above topics/areas, or on any other topic of interest on our secondary curriculum.

I can be contacted by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone 06-8760217 or 02102308240 or through NZAMT if that is more convenient.

Ka kite ano

Gillean Heald

Gillian 'retired' in July 2002 after 13 years as principal of the highly regarded Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch. Prior to that position, she was Head of Mathematics at the Christchurch College of Education after 12 years teaching Mathematics and Computer Studies at Christchurch Boys' High School.During her career in education she has been on many advisory committees for the Ministry of Education and the Qualifications Authority and has had a leadership role in many developments in Mathematics Education. She was involved in the early days of Cantamath and the NZ Mathematical Olympiad and travelled to Sweden and Russia with the NZ teams to the international Olympiad competitions.After retirement from Rangi Ruru, Gillian spent the rest of 2002 as an Advisor to schools at the Centre for Educational Leadership at the Christchurch College of Education, and was involved in Planning and Reporting advice and Professional Development programmes.In 2003 and 2004 she has been a mentor to 20 principals in the First Time Principals' programme. In addition Gillian is a part-time Co-director of the newly established Unlimited paenga tawhiti which is a state secondary school in the centre of Christchurch city, based on Discovery Learning principles. This she describes as an exciting and challenging new direction, with moments reminiscent of being a first-time principal and/or a year one teacher! She has even had the chance to get back in the classroom again and teach some mathematics. She has been appointed a Guardian of the Secondary Futures project which is looking 20 years out at NZ secondary education and builds on the OECD Futures-Thinking processes and is stimulated by this work in national and international contexts.In her spare time she works on contract positions for the Ministry of Education and is on a number of Boards.
Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Bevan Werry Speaker 2004
Tony Davidson

Bevan Werry Speaker 2003

Stuart Laird

After graduating from Auckland University, Stuart Laird studied mathematics in Canada on a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship before returning to New Zealand in 1970 to attend teacher College and then to teach at Rangitito College where he subsequently became Head of Mathematics.
During this period he was also a co-author of Delta Mathematics. In the early 1990s he was the Chairperson of the Policy Advisory group to the Minister of Education, overseeing the introduction of the Mathematics Curriculum.
In 1995 he spent a year in the Mathematics Department at Auckland University. The next year was Woolf Fisher Scholarship to look at mathematics and Technology in England and attend a conference in Seville.
In 1998 he shifted to the Engineering School at Auckland University, where he is currently in charge of first year mathematics. In 1999 he was given a Distinguished Teaching Award by the University. His current interest is in the ways Technology can be applied to Maths Teaching. He has been asked to talk in Wellington on May 18 and in Taranaki on 12th July. Both talks will deal with technology and Mathematics.