Word for Wednesday: Renew

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As the end of the year approaches, I find myself thinking about what I want from the New Year. In the past, on the blog, we’ve looked at the word ‘resolution’ as part of the Word for Wednesday feature, came up with spelling resolutions, and looked at idioms for new beginnings. For me the New Year is a time of renewal. In my resolutions, I try to refocus on old projects with fresh eyes just as much as I like to find new ones.

The word ‘renew’ dates back to the late fourteenth century, from the prefix ‘re-’ meaning ‘again’ and the Middle English ‘newen’ meaning ‘resume, revive, renew’. ‘New’ comes from the Old English ‘niwe’ meaning ‘new, fresh, recent, novel, unheard-of, different from the old, untried, inexperienced’, which in turn comes from the Proto-Germanic ‘newjaz’.

What do you want to achieve in 2016?


30 Dec 2015
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One of the students has put in a huge amount of effort in completing Spellzone at least 3 times a week since his arrival with us in January. Looking at his scores after the latest GL testing, his standardised score has risen from 99 to 131. This is a truly phenomenal result. I just wanted to share the best result I have ever seen.

Terrie Penrose-Toms, Casterton College

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