Principal of Howick Intermediate Yolande Franke has won this year’s Australian Scholarship Grant (ASG) National Excellence in Teaching (NEiTA) Founders’ Leadership Award.
Franke was one of the 15 inspirational educators nominated from 2000 applications for the award. She was nominated last year by a parent.
The citation says, before she took over as principal, Howick Intermediate School was on a one-year ERO review, had a falling roll and only 30 per cent of the students came from within the school zone. Under Franke’s direction, the school is now under a three-year review, 80 per cent of students come from within the school zone and the Community Consultation Survey this year returned a satisfaction score of 83 per cent.
Franke, who was invited to Parliament for the presentation of the award from Education Minister Chris Hipkins on Thursday, says it’s very humbling “and the acknowledgement from the Howick community is lovely. I think it’s a success story for the community and evidence of what a great team can achieve.”
The award comes with a $5000 professional grant.
“I would like to attend an international conference to gain fresh perspectives from leading thinkers on ways to approach the challenges facing the education sector, as well as, gain further inspiration to further fuel future-focused learning and teaching,” she said.
