I am resharing this article with you all about the NZ Curriculum updates and changes that have occurred this year.

Many of you will be aware that the NZ Curriculum is currently being reviewed and refreshed by the Ministry of Education/Government

For 2025 the current focus for implementation are the English & Mathematics / Statistics curricula.

The NZ Curriculum has moved towards a progression model where curriculum achievement levels have been replaced with ‘phases of learning’.

Each phase has a focus on the student and their social, emotional, and cognitive learning.

What does this mean for us in 2025? 

We began our professional development in Structured Literacy four years ago and the teaching practices associated with the changes in the English curriculum are very well established across the school. 

For mathematics, the Government rolled out a “structured maths” approach this year.  We are currently in the earlier stages of implementing these changes, along with all other NZ schools, and this has been a major focus for our professional development and resourcing this year. We are very fortunate to be working with Rob Proffitt- White and The Learner First this year. Our upcoming Teacher only days will give us an opportunity to have some more Professional Development learning to help us implement the new English and Maths curricula.

Reporting

Along with the new curriculum changes comes new assessment and reporting practices (the move away from levels to phases).  

This means that the criteria we use to level your child against expectations and how it is presented to you will look the same at mid year. 

However as we come to terms with the new assessment practices our end of year reporting will look slightly different and begin to incorporate the Learning Phases.

More information

https://www.education.govt.nz/parents-and-caregivers/schools-year-0-13/understand-your-childs-learning/new-zealand-curriculum-year-by-year-learning-guide

The new curriculum has a higher benchmark than its predecessor, with mathematical and English concepts introduced earlier to tamariki. The flow-on effect of this is that the expectation on student achievement at each year level also increases. The Ministry of Education understands that just raising the bar on paper doesn’t necessarily mean that all children will immediately start achieving at their expected level according to the new curriculum. They have released the following statement to parents to ensure that parents know that changes to their child’s achievement are to be expected when we move the bar for them. There will be considerable time as we transition students to the new curriculum content structure and teach the required foundational knowledge required to access it. 

See PDF below

To support whānau with this change, the Ministry of Education has launched a Parent Portal, which gives families a clearer picture of what their child is learning in maths and how they can help at home. The portal is easy to use and includes:

• Year-level overviews of key maths concepts

• Practice activities

• Videos and examples of how maths is taught

• Ideas for supporting learning at home in fun, everyday ways

• Answers to common questions parents have about maths

https://www.education.govt.nz/your-childs-learning

This new webspace supports students and their whānau by providing tools and resources to help with learning at home and school. It improves communication between families and educators and enables whānau to be more actively involved in their child's education and progress. The Parent Portal will be regularly updated, ensuring that parents and whānau have access to current information, curriculum content, and new resources and activities that can support their child’s education.