School of Food and Hospitality, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology

"Excellent teaching is like great customer service".

Kathryn Fortescue, Heather Dyksma, Katrina Fisher, Frances Oberg-Nordt, Jenny Ritchie, Kent Slocombe, Cheryl Stokes, and Susan Taylor.

A hospitality industry executive says this celebrated team of seven tutors and one specialist technician 'always strive for that next step in excellence'. Students benefit from the team’s positive attitude, cohesiveness, and customer focus. Student teams have won the prestigious Toque d’Or Competition 14 times in 20 years. Students achieve very high pass rates, and the Student Experience survey results are consistently the highest within their institution.

Staff embrace all opportunities to extend themselves and their students, including early involvement in the literacy-numeracy project at CPIT. They reported 'feeling privileged' to be included in CPIT’s first External Evaluation and Review. Part of their team culture statement reads 'When we focus on teaching and learning we will be ahead of everyone else.' Student comments show they consistently achieve that goal.

The team deliver a total experience for their students. One student wrote, 'I admire the enthusiasm and the high standard the tutors expect from their students and look up to them as inspirational role models.' The team works brilliantly together and is greater than the sum of its parts.