researchED New Zealand

May 2026

Hosted by Long Bay College

In partnership with the New Zealand Initiative

Speaker Profile

Penny Braid and Adelle Holmes

Penny Braid

Penny is Head of English at Ballarat Clarendon College. She has led teams and taught English in the earliest years of schooling through to VCE. Penny champions explicit instruction to strengthen understanding and long-term retention and has worked collaboratively with teams to design coherent learning sequences that ensure high expectations for all learners. With a strong focus on formative assessment and responsive teaching, she supports teachers to continually refine their practice and ensure all students can learn.

Adelle Holmes

Adelle is Head of Mathematics at Ballarat Clarendon College. Since around 2001, she has been actively involved in developing and teaching the Mathematics curriculum at Clarendon. Over the years, she has witnessed significant changes in teaching methods and is passionate about explicit teaching and incorporating tools such as mini whiteboards to engage with research related to formative assessment to ensure optimal student progress.

Penny Braid and Adelle Holmes

More Speaker Profiles

Dr Greg Ashman

Dr Greg Ashman is originally from the UK where he taught in government schools for thirteen years before moving to Ballarat, Australia with his young family. After securing a job

Rozanne Donald

Rozanne Donald is Associate Principal at Rutherford College. She has 25 years’ experience as an educator and senior leader in the tertiary and secondary sectors. In 2019 she was awarded

Dr Michael Johnston

Dr Michael Johnston has been a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative since early 2022. He has published numerous reports for the Initiative, on topics including modern learning environments,