Olivia Yates

Ako Toroa (Year 5/6)
oyates@firth.school.nz

Hey!
I am Olivia Yates, and I teach an incredible Year 5/6 class in Ako Toroa, which is part of the Kia Puawai Team. I am the lead teacher of both The Arts and Enviroschools.

I was born and raised in our lovely little town of Matamata where I did all of my schooling at local schools. It was because of the fantastic opportunities and incredible teachers that I had, that I decided to head to Waikato University to begin my career in Primary School Teaching.

To me, teaching is more than just a career. It is a passion, and growing the minds of our future generations is something that means a great deal to me. There is truly nothing better than getting to see that moment when a child learns something new and truly 'gets it'.

I teach so that the students who enter my classroom leave with the self-belief and the confidence to go forward and know that any dream they have can become reality if they believe in themselves and push through the barriers of learning by not giving up.