NZCGE has a range of educators nationwide who have come to us via the merger of Gifted Kids and the Gifted Education Centre or more recently to the newly formed organisation. Staff are specialists in gifted education with a wealth and depth of experience and expertise.
Deb Walker CEO Wellington
Anna MeuliConsultancy Manager Wellington
Sue Barriball Programme Manager Auckland
Lara Sarich Office Administration Lower Hutt
Lisa Horan Administration Lower Hutt
Jo Bate CEO Support Lower Hutt
Adriane Bancroft Administration Lower Hutt
Sharon HillockAccounts Lower Hutt
Joy Woolett Fundraising Lower Hutt
Vanessa WhiteConsultant Hamilton
New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education staff are specialists in gifted education with a wealth and depth of experience and expertise. They come to us with a diverse range of backgrounds and specialisation and are united in their desire to provide quality and appropriate learning opportunities for young gifted New Zealanders.
Madelaine Armstrong-Willcocks Regional Lead TeacherAuckland West and North Shore
Jenny BezuidenhoutSpecialist Educator Auckland
Diana HaymanSpecialist EducatorAuckland
Anna Faid Regional Lead Teacher Auckland Central and East
Anna has taught for over 20 years in a variety of roles, many of which have centred around supporting and extending students, dependent on their individual needs. This has included many years teaching ESOL, as well as literacy, e-learning and junior gifted students within the mainstream primary school.
Her journey with giftedness began with her own children and her oldest son attended both One Day School and Gifted Kids, the precursors to MindPlus. His experience and Anna's observations of friends and other students she taught in her own classrooms and groups has sparked an enduring interest in giftedness, and particularly those diagnosed as twice exceptional and those who sit outside the norms of traditional primary schooling. She hopes to be able to encourage, ignite and extend passions in gifted students through MindPlus and to be able to support and share the hopes of parents.
Joining the Mind Plus team in 2018, Anna is excited to be learning alongside other very skilled, experienced and passionate teachers in the NZCGE community and feels privileged to be able to support others in their giftedness journey.
Susan Jackson Specialist Educator Auckland
Ashle ArmstrongSpecialist Educator Auckland
Ashle did her teacher training in America and began teaching in 2007. She has always worked under the umbrella of special education, so she is particularly adept at motivating and engaging "non-traditional" learners. Ashle’s initial teaching qualification was in secondary education, but she has a master's degree in Special Education, and Ed.D. in Deaf Education.
While Ashle lived in America her experience with teaching was at a high school level. Since moving to New Zealand she has had the opportunity to work with children from new entrants through to high school. Ashle has also been able to get a bit of experience with early childhood education by doing some reliving at her children’s day care.
Ashle has two boys of her own, the oldest of whom has been attending Small Poppies since the start of 2017. This is beneficial to Ashle as she can be especially compassionate and empathetic with parents as she is walking this whole gifted "journey" alongside them.
Ashle is particularly passionate about getting young learners to tap into their social and emotional intelligence, as well as just finding what interests them and running with it. New Zealand Centre for Gifted education is proud to have a great team of educators such as Ashle behind them to encourage our gifted children to reach their potential.
Anne Devlin Regional Lead Teacher Hamilton
Sue Bufton Regional Lead Teacher Rotorua
Sarah KirbyRegional Lead Teacher Wellington
Cathryn BjarnesenSpecialist EducatorWellington
Sarah McAuslanSpecialist EducatorWellington
Vicki AdamRegional Lead Teacher Lower Hutt
Lynley Ball
Nomi WaldConsultantWellington
Smruti PavlovRegional Lead TeacherChristchurch
Tamara DrewSpecialist EducatorChristchurch
Sue BreenSmall Poppies / Lead TeacherChristchurch
Jenni Hammonds
1Name (soft return)Position (soft return)Wellington
2Name (soft return)Position (soft return)Wellington
3Name (soft return)Position (soft return)Wellington
4Name (soft return)Position (soft return)Wellington