“What Are They Learning?” – English: Oral language, Reading and Writing

Last Sunday evening, the Ministry of Education released major changes to the way English, Mathematics and Statistics will be taught from Years 0–10.  These changes have come without warning, consultation, or a clear explanation — and they will have a big impact on schools.

These completely rewritten curricula have been released almost 12 months to the day after the Year 1-8 Mathematics curriculum and Years 1- 6 English curriculum were released.  Whilst we knew that Phases for Yr 7 & 8 were due to drop soon, nobody was prepared for both curricula to be entirely rewritten and reformatted and the entire framework for the curriculum (Understand, Know, Do) to be removed altogether.  Also, within these curricula are rules about how learning should be reported and a complete removal of the teaching considerations, i.e., the approaches and techniques teachers should be using to deliver learning.  All in all, they are completely different curricula from the ones primary schools received this time last year and have spent the last 12 months unpacking, developing knowledge of, and using. 

Schools have spent months preparing for the previously announced curriculum changes (Refreshed Curriculum), investing significant time and money in professional development and planning.  Now, with only seven weeks left in an already busy term, the Minister is asking schools to:

• Take on major new professional learning and development,

• Rework planning and teaching approaches,

• And have everything ready to go by February 2026.

This is not realistic or fair for schools, kaiako, tamariki, or whānau.

The Minister now wants learning to follow a strict year-by-year sequence, based only on a child’s age.  This means every Year 3 child, for example, would be expected to work on the same content — regardless of whether they are working ahead or need more time and support.

We know that classrooms don’t work like this.  For decades, teachers have taught within broad phases of learning, allowing them to meet students where they are and help them progress at their own pace.

A fundamental part of this is ensuring that teachers have a thorough understanding of the demands and expectations of the curriculum and know what to teach their students.  This is almost impossible to achieve if the curriculum is constantly changing and being done ‘to us’ and not ‘with us’ as a profession. 

We want the very best for our tamariki.  They deserve a curriculum that is well planned, properly resourced, and gives teachers the time and tools to do their jobs well — not one that is rushed through without proper consultation.

At Lyall Bay School, we will continue to use the Refreshed Curriculum that we have been learning about this year.  The new curriculum is not expected to be gazetted until 2026. 

Lyall Bay School Athletic Sports

After postponing the Athletic Sports on Wednesday due to the weather, we were greeted with a perfect day on Friday. Tamariki took part in all events, and the results were recorded of tamariki who reached the markers for Eastern Zone qualification.  We can only send two representatives for each event, so although many passed the qualification it does not automatically qualify them to move to the next stage.  Those who are chosen to represent us will receive information through HERO. 

Strategic Plan

In our last term's newsletter, we mentioned that the board will meet early next term to share the current context, summarise the Gap Analysis based on the information you have given us, share perspectives, and decide on the aims and priorities, ready to move forward.

Since then, we have been advised that the Ministry of Education are putting a Bill to Parliament to require Strategic Plans to be updated for 2027. 

The Board are now discussing the opportunities that this brings us.

Our Vision in Action

At the heart of everything we do is our school vision:
Waihangatia ngā Ākonga Tino Pai – Building the Best Learners.

In 2024, we were chosen to be part of a research project for the writing of Ākonga Māori.  Researchers gathered assessments twice in the year, from Yr 3 and yr 6 ākonga Māori.

The results of the assessments showed that our tamariki are doing vey well in some areas.

From this, they analysed the data and we were noted as making a significant difference for Ākonga Māori.  They contacted us to get more information through a questionnaire.

‘Some of your ākonga Māori showed strong achievement in the 2024 writing assessment of the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study – a fantastic result!  Your school is one of just 20, from the 160 involved, that we’re keen to hear from. We want to understand what’s working, so we can share your insights with others.’

We were then asked to be involved in the third stage, as they found that our writing curriculum is strong for many of our Ākonga Māori.  They interviewed Kate M and myself for this. 

Their Kaupapa:

‘To identify schools where ākonga Māori were experiencing strong success in writing, we analysed achievement data from the 147 schools that took part in the study’s national writing assessment in 2024.  We focused on schools where there were at least five ākonga Māori, where Māori students made up at least 20% of the roll, and where Māori students were doing particularly well – both compared to Māori students nationally, and to all students in similar schools.  We then ranked schools on this basis and identified the top 20.  These 20 schools were invited to complete short questionnaires, and the top six were also invited to take part in interviews online.’

We were in the top six, so some of our work is included here.  No schools or staff are named.

If you would like to read the report here is a link - 2025_Pouarahi_-_Akonga_Maori_writing_success.pdf 

2026 Classes

We are starting to plan for 2026.  If you would like some input into the kind of environment that your child does best in, then please let me know (principal@lyallbay.school.nz) by November 15th.  Kaiako are not yet in set spaces, so please do not request a particular kaiako, as that kaiako may not be in that room for 2026!   We also ask that you do not ask for your child to be with a particular group of friends.  This can get tricky if other parents have asked for something quite different.  Our kaiako do know our tamariki well and always try to make sure they are with others they know.  As our classes all work collaboratively, there are always opportunities for tamariki to be with different groups.