Last week I had the opportunity to attend a two day conference, hearing from a range of amazing educational experts - both international and also some pretty amazing local speakers.

The conference was both inspirational and reassuring. I was able to hear directly from two renowned speakers, whose books I own and have used - Russell Bishop and Ann Milne. I think the term is "fangirling" and it was definitely inspirational.

The conference was also reassuring as it gave me confidence in all the work we have done in the educational space in the last 20-30 years that I have been a teacher - NZ has been a leader - producing creative and collaborative students who go one to innovate and make a mark on the globe - from film makers, to sportspeople, to business leaders and social action leaders. NZ schools must be doing something right - however there is still an issue with equity as our learners from the poorest areas are still not being served well by our systems. Systems - not schools and not teachers.

Over the past 15 years there has been virtually no improvement in the learning outcomes of students in the OECD countries - this period encompasses the time of National Standards - a change that saw no improvement in student achievement in NZ - despite promises. A time of "standards" in reading, writing and maths and of talk of national testing - sound familiar?

A return to an old-fashioned school system that prioritises ancient history over Aotearoa History is not the answer.

Internationally, there is now more Tech per student, more data collected than ever before and we spend more per student in actual dollars, and yet over the last 20 years the “gap” has not decreased, in fact it has increased slightly.

According to Pisa, New Zealand has had a 20 point decline in students' sense of belonging in the last 20 years and we are now the third worst of all the OECD countries. Worse than us, at 2nd to last, is the UK - a country we are currently following after with our current curriculum changes. For me, this a far more worrying statistic than a drop in maths achievement.

At Titirangi, we will continue with our focus on our school values - Ako tahi - learning together, providing a balanced approach - we do structured literacy, supported by key whole language strategies. We provide a strong foundation in reading writing and maths but teach tamariki that intelligence is not a narrow concept and to be an achiever means to excel in art, in sport, in social action and in collaboration.

We focus on Manaakitanga, we uplift and respect the mana of each child, we make wellbeing central to learning, we try to give students a strong ground in social emotional learning.

Lastly, we focus on Whanaungatanga as we know that having a sense of belonging is vital to student confidence and understanding of themselves as learners. We value and celebrate the culture of each child, we embrace inclusion and diversity. We are committed to providing a well-rounded and holistic education for students at Titirangi School.

Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu / With the feathers, the bird will fly.