Kia ora e te whaanau,

We’ve had a lovely start to Term 2, and it’s been heart-warming to hear that many of our tamariki enjoyed quality time with their whaanau over the school holiday. During the break, Miss Matthews (Puaawai 5/6 teacher) got married. Karen's married name is Mrs Karen Burkhart. Congratulations to Karen and Ash!

Although we have only nine weeks this term, it’s action-packed. Our Year 5–8 students have already begun preparing for our annual school production, with planning, auditions, and script writing now well underway. There’s a great buzz around the school as creativity starts to flourish. We also have plenty of sports events, such as Cross Country, Hardcourts Day, and Morrinsville Fun Day. At the same time, our teaching teams are also beginning the work of preparing for end-of-term assessments, deciding on children’s overall achievement levels and reporting.

Over the last term, a tremendous amount of work has taken place as we worked to implement the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. While the goals of the refresh are positive, the scale and pace of change have placed considerable demands on schools. Teachers are redesigning their planning templates—ranging from unit plans to daily lessons—to align with the new structure. They are also trialling and reflecting on teaching practices that best support curriculum implementation while ensuring careful differentiation. In addition, teachers are engaging in ongoing professional learning to deliver the curriculum effectively, all while maintaining classroom programmes and meeting the diverse learning needs of their students.

One of the key shifts in the refreshed curriculum is the structure built around the three pillars of Understand, Know, and Do. ‘Understand’ refers to the big ideas and concepts that help students make sense of the world. ‘Know’ refers to the specific knowledge and content that students are expected to learn. ‘Do’ is about the application of learning. Together, these three elements form the framework that now underpins the English and Mathematics learning areas. Progress outcomes describe what development in each of these areas should look like over time, which teachers include in their planning.

To give you a sense of the curriculum's scale, take Mathematics as an example. Beyond the big ideas in the Understand, Know, and Do learning intentions, each year level includes detailed concepts to be taught. For example, Year 6 now covers over 50 specific maths concepts, many of which are more complex than before and require multiple revisits to master. In Literacy, the Year 6 curriculum has around 90 components. The curriculum is not only content-heavy but also pitched at a higher level, making it more challenging for children to meet these demands.

It’s important to understand that the shift in expectations doesn’t mean your child hasn’t made progress. Rather, it reflects the higher standards and additional content now required at each year level. Children who previously met curriculum expectations may temporarily fall below the new standards due to changes in the curriculum, not a lack of progress. These new expectations apply to all year levels, and some specific concepts were not taught in earlier years as part of the previous Curriculum. We will work to identify and address learning gaps over time, ensuring your child receives the learning they need to continue progressing.

Erica Standford, Minister of Education, has said “The refreshed curriculum is internationally benchmarked and more demanding — particularly in lower primary maths.”

Another challenge for teachers during this assessment and reporting time is the fact that many of the traditional assessment tools we have used in the past are no longer fit for purpose. These tools do not align with the refreshed curriculum, and updated tools from the Ministry of Education are not expected until 2026. To support our staff, we have been redeveloping our assessment tools to help align with the new curriculum, including designing some of our own tools to help capture evidence of learning the best we can, alongside our everyday observations, discussions with children and monitoring of learning.

While we are committed to keeping you informed and supported, we are still awaiting formal guidance from the Ministry of Education about how schools are expected to report to parents under the refreshed curriculum. We are not expecting this to overly impact our current decision-making for Term 2 reporting, however. At the end of this term, students in Years 1–8 will receive a digital report via HERO, which will include a Powerful Learning comment, a short statement about Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, along with an achievement graph. These reports are designed to complement the ongoing Learning Journal posts in HERO, which will continue to update you regularly on your child’s learning throughout the year. We will also run our Student Led Conferences in Week 9, as another opportunity to engage with your child's learning. 

Thank you for continuing to partner with us in your child’s learning. As always, our door is open if you have questions, and we’ll continue to keep you informed as we move forward.

Ngaa mihi nui,
Nyree Olliver
Principal