NZ has a national curriculum that guides what your child learns at school. Your child will develop a range of values and key competencies, or capabilities, that they need to succeed in life. These are all woven into the teaching of learning areas, or subjects.

The National Curriculum is the term used to refer to The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. These set the direction for student learning and guide schools and kura as they design and implement a curriculum that meets the needs of their students.

There is a big focus on reading, writing and maths in the primary years, as these are really important foundation skills that everyone needs in order to be able to do well in life. Children need strong reading, writing and maths skills to progress through the levels of the National Curriculum and be able to achieve NCEA Level 2 or above at secondary school.

Te Mātaiaho

Te Mātaiaho (the Refreshed NZ Curriculum) is in draft form and over the next year the board, staff and leadership team will develop their understanding of the principles and content of this refreshed NZ Curriculum. 

This short vimeo explains how and why the curriculum is being refreshed.

Key Changes: 

• Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a central pillar to Te Mātaiaho

• There are 3 key shifts:

  • realising the intent of Te TIriti o Waitangi

  • broadening our view of what success for everyone looks like

  • setting high expectations for all

• We are moving towards a progression model where ‘phases of learning’ replace the curriculum levels and these are cumulative in nature

  • Y0–3 is about thriving in environments rich in literacy and numeracy

  • Y3–6 adds on expanding horizons of knowledge and collaboration

  • Y7–8 adds on knowing I belong and advocating for self and others

• Learning is woven into strands - ‘Understand, Know and Do’ (UKD)

• Literacy and Numeracy, key competencies and values will be explicitly integrated within each learning area.  At MEPS we currently have focussed literacy and numeracy times in the school day (at least 1 hour each!) with other learning areas integrated as much as possible.  Our values have been an integral part of our curriculum planning and delivery for some time.

• Mātauranga Māori (Maori knowledge) will be included in the Understand, Know, Do  (UKD) structure as a deliberate feature.  We are continuing to build our understanding of this and how it can be reflected in our classroom programmes, although we have made a great start e.g. our Matariki celebrations, learning local stories and histories (Ihumātao, Te Pane o Mataoho, Hape, Maki etc).

• The Learning Areas remain the same, however Social Sciences now incorporates a focus on Aotearoa NZ Histories.  We have spent some time as a staff building our understanding of the key areas of focus in the Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum. 

• We have received the draft Mathematics and Statistics and English curricula, which staff are becoming familiar with. 

• The Ministry of Education has given us 2 Teacher Only Days this year - opportunities for kaiako to share ideas and expertise, and to grow their confidence in implementing the upcoming curriculum and assessment changes.  

Learning Areas

There are 8 learning areas (or subject areas) in The New Zealand Curriculum:

• English

• The Arts

• Health and Physical Education

• learning languages

• Mathematics and Statistics

• Science

• Social Sciences

• Technology

The values and competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum are woven into these learning areas. They are designed to encourage enjoyment of learning and the ability to think critically, manage oneself, set goals, overcome obstacles and get along with others – the attributes students need to succeed as adults.

Key Competencies

Competencies are abilities and capabilities that people use to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies 5 key competencies that it has a focus on children developing throughout their time at school:

• Thinking - is about using thinking processes to make sense of information, experiences and ideas

• Using language, symbols, and texts - working with, being able to understand, and making sense of the codes (languages and symbols) in which knowledge is expressed

• Managing self - having self-motivation, a "can-do" attitude, and seeing oneself as a capable learner

• Relating to others - is about interacting effectively with a range of different people in a range of different situations, including things like being able to listen well, recognise different points of view, and share ideas

• Participating and contributing - being involved in communities, such as family, whānau, school, and be able to contribute and make connections with other people