On Thursday 29 August we held a parent information evening to tell you about the Stanley Bay Curriculum. This article is a summary of the key points of the evening. The attached video is an interesting insight into the changes that are happening globally with school curricula.

The New Zealand Curriculum

• The New Zealand Curriculum is made up of four key areas: Vision, Values, Key Competencies and the Areas of Learning

• The New Zealand Curriculum takes a holistic view of the child, with the key focus on developing the skills and abilities to access knowledge

• This is in contrast to many other curriculums from around the world where knowledge is the focus

• Each of the learning areas is divided into 5 levels which the students are expected to progress through. Once a child has mastered the skills, knowledge and understanding at a given level they progress to the next level.

The Stanley Bay Curriculum

• Every School in New Zealand uses the curriculum document to create its own local curriculum

• At Stanley Bay we deliver the learning areas by using an integrated approach

• An integrated curriculum is one which blurs the lines between subject areas

• Research shows that learning is deeper when students are encouraged to make connections between what they are learning

• Neuroscience also shows that humans do not naturally silo knowledge and understanding, but solve problems by jumping between ideas, themes and concepts

• Literacy and numeracy are a major focus and form the foundation of all teaching and learning

• The skills of literacy and numeracy are also taught through subjects like science, technology and the arts.

Inquiry Based Learning

The New Zealand Curriculum states all schools have to build their local curriculum around three principles

- learn how to learn, reflecting on the personal process of learning

- engage in learning that connects to their lives and community

- look to the future, developing skills to cope with the unknown.

At Stanley Bay we believe the best way to do this is through an inquiry learning approach

Inquiry learning is a model where students ask questions, follow passions and learn by 'doing'.

A unit of Inquiry at Stanley Bay has three main elements the central idea, lines of inquiry and summative task. 

• The central idea - this is the key understandings we want students to learn

• The lines of inquiry - these are the avenues of learning the students can choose to follow

• The summative task - this is the endpoint or problem the students need to solve

An inquiry can be highly structured with a teacher scaffolding every step or it can more free and open with students working independently to achieve a goal.

The design of the Stanley Bay curriculum is deliberately aimed at developing the skills and attitudes of a lifelong learner and to ultimately prepare them to be successful citizens in a global society in an unpredictable future.