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Welcome to Head Held High!
Operating since 2011, for over a decade we were Auckland’s largest speech and drama company. We are now a small, Matakana-only, boutique speech and drama school. We're proud to be a family business and we treat all our students, parents and teachers as part of our extended family.
We focus on developing confident, respectful, curious and fun young New Zealanders, using our bespoke speech and drama curriculum. We genuinely believe it is these qualities that lead to a happy and successful life. And this is what we want for all of our students.
Our team holds a rich tapestry of speech and drama, and communication-skills experience, as well a shared penchant for fun, silliness, flair and discipline.
Our courses cater for students from ages 5 – 18 and we offer professional certificate and diploma qualifications through our association with the New Zealand Speech Board and the Trinity College of London, one of the world’s foremost speech and drama colleges.
At Head Held High, we take equal pleasure in developing NZ’s next great acting talents as we do in transforming children from sheepish to self-assured, or freeing the confidence to communicate that sits inside every one of our students.
From our whānau to yours, we welcome you to Head Held High.
Our People
Great things come in small teams...
Kate
Director + Founder
ATCL in Speech and Drama, Post Grad Dip Secondary School Teaching, BCom
Kate's positivity is infectious, she is incredibly passionate about what she does. Kate has been involved in teaching speech and drama lessons to thousands of young New Zealanders over the last 15 years. In this time she has worked with children, teenagers, school teachers, corporates, Tedx speakers, and even prison inmates. Kate's life passion is to help improve the creativity, communication skills, confidence and creativity of students of all ages and backgrounds. She adores her husband Mark and is a loving mum to their two daughters, Mila and Tulsi.
Kate's guilty pleasure is reality singing shows. She looooves watching singers audition on The Voice.
Jo
Teacher
Television Producer. A long career in broadcasting!
Jo is a huge fan of the value of speech and drama. She started lessons as a child and carried on through high school until beginning her career.
Jo produced numerous "household name" TV shows while balancing the busy lives of her 3 arts-orientated children, which included 19 years as the mother of speech & drama kids!
Jo believes speech and drama rounds out kids' education, teaches them wonderful life skills and reassures them they can communicate effectively with all kinds of people.
Jo loves nothing more than FaceTiming her kids to hear about their latest adventures and fascinating conversations!
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