Meet the Staff
Bruce Tong
Bruce's previous appointment was Deputy Principal at Westlake Boys' High School. He has a wealth of educational experience both within the primary and secondary service including responsibilities for strategic planning, school wide curriculum development and management of college pastoral care and guidance. Bruce is a keen sportsman. He has managed and coached rowing and hockey to a senior level. |
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Steve Wackrow
Prior to becoming a foundation staff member at Wentworth, in the capacity of Deputy Principal, Steve was a Faculty Head and member of the Saint Kentigern College Senior Management Team, involved in teaching, curriculum development, teacher appraisal and computers in the curriculum. He piloted the use of computer notebooks for classroom use. |
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Sarah Banyard
Sarah has been teaching mathematics for more than 25 years. She joined Wentworth as Head of Mathematics in January 2008, having taught for 19 Years at a private boarding school in England (Millfield) and more recently at Westlake Boys High School. Sarah and her family enjoy camping, kayaking and travelling. |
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Dianne Beetham
Dianne initially trained as a medical technician and worked as a school technician in the UK. In New Zealand Dianne worked at Auckland University in Biological Science before training as a teacher at AUT. Dianne plays brass instruments and also teaches brass. Her hobbies include gardening, swimming and boating. |
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Debbi Bell
After graduating university in the UK, Debbi worked as a Journalist for seven years and was Chief Reporter for a large regional newspaper. She retrained as a teacher 10 years ago and has taught English and History in UK secondary schools, where she was also a Head of Year (Dean). Debbie moved to New Zealand with her family four years ago and enjoys swimming, walking and |
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Mike Cowie
Mike has had extensive experience in teaching secondary pupils. He has held senior Social Science positions and Senior Management positions in both state and independent schools. Mike also has been heavily involved in coaching sports teams over his years of teaching. |
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Sue Cowie
Sue has been teaching in New Zealand at a range of secondary schools over a long period of time. She arrived at Wentworth College from Rangitoto College where she enjoyed twelve years as HOD Soft Technology and TIC Netball . Her passion is the sea and the outdoors and her pastimes include family, food and health-fitness and tramping. She is really looking forward to setting up Food and Fabric at Wentworth College. |
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Alice Davies
After gaining her MA(Hons) in English Literature Alice trained as a secondary teacher and taught for a number of years at Kristin School. Alice came to Wentworth from Baradene College where she was Head of English and a member of the Senior Management Team. Her interests include tramping, fishing and reading. |
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Anne Elliott
Anne comes to Wentworth from Mahurangi College, Warkworth where she was joint Head of Faculty of Arts for the last twelve years. She teaches Painting, Design, Photography, Sculpture and Printmaking at Wentworth. Her interests include anything creative - performing arts, film, music, painting and gardening. |
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Barbara Freeman
Barbara brings a wealth of experience in Music and Music Performance to Wentworth. She has taught in a number of schools in Ontario and New Zealand and has directed choir and orchestra performances in both senior and junior school areas. |
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Jillian Gamble
Jillian gained her BA in English at Canterbury University and her Diploma in Teaching also at Canterbury. She has taught in several New Zealand secondary schools including Rangiora in the south and Ruapehu and Rangitahi College in the middle of the North Island. For nine years she was HOD English, first at Orewa College and then at Upper Hutt College. While raising her three children she gained two graduate diplomas: a DipEd in Guidance and a Dip Humanities in English. |
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Rachel Gosden
Rachel studied Sports Science and Chemistry at Loughborough University in England before completing a Secondary PGCE at Cambridge University, specialising in Chemistry. Rachel previously taught in a comprehensive school in Caterbury (U.K.) before being appointed at Wentworth. Rachel is a keen sportswoman; her main interests are netball, badminton and swimming. With her relocation to New Zealand, Rachel is keen to try new sports such as skiing and surfing. |
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Gary Hansen
Gary has a wide background as a designer in the film and television industries, in applied design fields and as an artist and teacher. He has worked for the ABC in Australia, BBC in UK, and was previously Head of Design Services for TV One in Avalon, Wellington. Since 1997 Gary has been teaching Graphics, Technology, Art & Design. He began as 'artist in residence' at Diocesan School for Girls, later moving to Kristin where he tutored in Technology, Graphics, Art and Art/Design. He designed and assisted in many of Kristin's stage productions and provided student mentoring for 'Stage Challenge' competitions. He is a current examiner for International Baccalaureate Art/Design. |
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Matt Harris
Matt joined Wentworth after completing a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation at Auckland University of Technology. After completing his degree Matt worked in the industry for a couple of years before returning to attain his Secondary Teaching diploma. Matt is passionate about young people and seeing them meet their potential through an involvement in sport and recreation. He and his wife live locally with their two young children. |
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Paul Langdon
After completing a Management Studies degree at Waikato University, Paul spent 7 years in the business world working for high profile businesses such as The Warehouse and Blue Star Office Products, before going back to University to gain his Diploma of Teaching. Paul has taught Economics and Accounting for 8 years at schools including Mt. Roskill Grammar and Rangitoto College. His hobbies include playing golf and squash, and spending quality time with his wife and young children. |
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Doug Muller
Doug completed his degree in Physics with Space Technology at Salford University and then went on to complete a teaching course in Science and Physics at Leicester University. He taught at Kingsbury School in Tamworth and Finham Park School in Coventry before coming to New Zealand to teach at Wentworth. His hobbies include football, badminton, skiing, golf, movies, music and salsa dancing. |
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Anna Pallares
Anna teaches Spanish at Wentworth but she is also a speaker of Catalan and Italian. She has wide experience in education having taught in a number of schools in Barcelona and Auckland. She has also worked as an interpreter and as an industrial Psychologist. Anna holds a Diploma in Piano from the Conservatory of Music, Barcelona. |
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Colin Thomson
Colin came to Wentworth after teaching for five years at Howick College where he was Assistant Head of Health and Physical Education. He has a passion for all sports especially running, squash and hockey and loves adventures in the outdoors. Colin believes phyiscal education and sports have a central role to play in the lives of young adults, and is passionate about seeing positive results from these in Wentworth students. He has recently moved to the Hibiscus Coast and enjoys spending time at local beaches and parks with his wife and his 2 young children. |
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Linda van Zyl
Prior to joining the staff at Wentworth Linda taught Calculus and Statistics at tertiary level for twenty years at different academic institutions in South Africa and Namibia and was a lecturer in Mathematics Teaching at East Rand College of Education. She has taught Mathematics at Long Bay College, Chilton St James School and the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Linda has a strong interest in Fencing and in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. |
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Cathy Worthy
Cathy completed her teaching degree at Christchurch College of Education. She has also studied Science at Waikato and Massey Universities. Prior to coming to Wentworth she taught at an independent middle school in Nelson for six years. Her interests include tramping, sailing, orienteering, caving and travelling. |
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Michele Yock
Michele has seventeen years of teaching experience and most recently taught at Red Beach Primary School. She recently established a resource /consultancy business based on the Numeracy and Literacy Teaching Project. |
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SUPPORT STAFFGail Clews
Gail is often the first point of contact for Wentworth College parents. As well as acting as Admissions Registrar for prospective parents, she also acts as the Principal's PA and can assist existing parents with many issues around the day to day running of the school. If you're not sure who to contact, start with Gail and if she can't assist you directly, she'll help you locate the right person. |
Dianne Drew
In her roll as Student Support Officer, Dianne is the first point of contact for all Wentworth students, whether it be purchasing stationery, handing in money for school trips, looking for lost property, or needing first aid assistance. Parents should contact Dianne with any queries relating to 'Sundry' school fees (stationery, trips, camps etc). |
Natasha Duffett
Natasha is responsible for the enrolment of international students for both the Primary and College. She also places international students with local 'homestay families', ensuring continuous pastoral care while the students are in full-time study. Natasha works part time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00am until 12 noon. If you are the parent of an international student, an Agent, or a local family interested in providing a caring home for one of our international students, please contact Natasha. |
Jules Romminger
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Janette Taumoli
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