As we look back on 2024, Essential Resources is proud to celebrate a year filled with growth, collaboration, and dedication. We have been committed to providing the best teaching resources of 2024 to educators across New Zealand. From launching innovative new resources to forging deeper connections at major conferences, this year has reinforced our commitment to empowering teachers and helping them inspire the next generation.
Reflecting on an impactful year in early childhood education
At Essential Resources, our guiding principle has always been to create content that is relevant, practical, and meaningful for educators. This year, we focused on addressing key priority areas to ensure we deliver the best teaching resources of 2024. These include teacher wellbeing, inclusive education, and creative arts.
Feedback from educators we met throughout the year made one thing clear: their passion for delivering high-quality education is unparalleled. Their enthusiasm inspires us to continue developing resources that uplift confidence and capability.
Conference highlights – building connections in 2024
Conferences are more than just events – they’re opportunities to connect, share, and learn. This year, we attended multiple conference across New Zealand. There we met hundreds of dedicated educators eager to make a difference in their classrooms.
Key moments from primary conferences in New Zealand
At all conferences, our stall featured some of our most popular educational resources of 2024, including:
- The Story Seekers range: designed to spark creativity and language development in young learners.
- How to Teach Writing, Spelling and Grammar: Practical strategies for teaching writing, spelling, and grammar with confidence.
- Morphology Basics: Foundational guide to teaching word structure, meaning, and language skills.
Our team left these conferences inspired by the passion and knowledge educators bring to their work. It underscored our role as creators of educational resources to deliver tools that are not just functional but transformative.
Celebrating 21 new resource launches
2024 was a landmark year for resource development at Essential Resources. We released 21 new and updated publications across early childhood, primary, and secondary education. Our expert authors and editing team have been working hard to ensure we produce the best teaching resources of 2024.
Some of our best teaching resources
Some standout additions to our catalogue this year included:
- New additions to our Story Seekers range: Engaging chapter books to support struggling readers in decoding and comprehension.
- Partnerships with Families of Children with Additional Needs: Evidence-based strategies for building family partnerships and supporting inclusion.
- The Essential Planner 2025: Comprehensive, durable planner with key dates, teaching tips, and templates.
These resources were met with enthusiasm from educators and teachers, who praised their practical applications and ability to meet classroom needs.
These resources reminded me to give more thought into the ‘why’s’ and ‘when’s’, reflecting on the child and what is happening.
Educators’ feedback: Inspiring moments from 2024
One of the most rewarding parts of our year was hearing how our resources are transforming classrooms. Educators shared stories of improved student engagement, creative breakthroughs, and greater confidence in their teaching practices.
This course has equipped me with the knowledge, skills and resources to overcome challenges related to writing instruction in my school. I feel more confident and prepared to support my students in developing their writing skills and achieving success as writers.
Hearing directly from our users fuels our drive to create even more impactful resources. It’s a privilege to support educators in their important work.
Looking ahead to 2025: A sneak peek
While 2024 was a year of reflection and growth, 2025 promises to be just as exciting. We’re already hard at work developing new resources and initiatives to support educators even further.
Upcoming initiatives to watch out for in 2025
- Expanding our range of resources and continuing to support areas such as specialist and inclusive education needs.
- New courses, and new course formats, to support early childhood educators.
- Continued focus on professional development, offering tools to help teachers and teacher aides feel confident and equipped in their roles.
- Extensive additions to our incredibly popular How to Teach Writing, Spelling and Grammar book and course series.
We’re also committed to listening to educators’ feedback and using it to guide our projects for the coming year.
Thank you for being part of our journey
To everyone who engaged with Essential Resources in 2024 – whether you attended a conference, used one of our resources, or shared your feedback – we thank you. Your dedication to education is the reason we do what we do.
As we prepare for 2025, we’re excited to continue supporting educators with tools and insights that make a difference. Here’s to another year of growth, connection, and collaboration!
What were your highlights of 2024? Connect with us on social media and let us know. We’d love to hear your story!