Lawson is a Year 13 student at St Paul’s Collegiate School.  Whether he is out whitewater kayaking or working through a new English assessment, he approaches challenges with energy and focus.  For him, Writer’s Toolbox has played a major role in shaping his confidence and success as an analytical writer.

Coming from IGCSE in Year 11, Lawson entered NCEA with strong ideas but little structure.  He quickly realised the expectations were completely different.  NCEA required clarity, concision, and a structured approach to argument.  “Before Writer’s Toolbox, I was a good writer for IGCSE, but when it came to NCEA, I was only getting Achieves at first,” he explains.  The shift was difficult, and Lawson knew he needed to rethink how he wrote.

Everything changed when his teacher introduced Writer’s Toolbox.  With clear models, paragraph types, and explicit techniques, Lawson began to rebuild his writing from the ground up.  He started learning how to be concise, organise ideas, and craft paragraphs that carried real analytical weight.  As he incorporated new techniques, his grades rose.  “That actually helped me become an Excellence student,” he says.

One of the things Lawson valued most was the variety within the programme. He loved posing philosophical questions and exploring ethical ideas, and Writer's Toolbox gave him paragraph types designed for exactly that. The structure helped him go deeper with his thinking while staying focused and controlled. "It helped me be more concise and more analytical instead of waffling," he explained.

The instant feedback feature was another breakthrough.  Writer’s Toolbox showed him when sentences were too long, when paragraphs needed tightening, and when his ideas drifted.  That real-time support bridged the gap between teacher feedback and independent learning.  “Sometimes the teacher is helping someone else or your peers are busy.  Writer’s Toolbox gives you the on-the-spot feedback you need.”

For Lawson, Writer’s Toolbox has not just improved his grades.  It has changed the way he thinks, structures, and communicates ideas.  It has given him the skills to write with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

And for him, that is the real difference.