Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

Over the term I have been writing about ‘The Learning Pit’, a visual model useful to help children through the process of learning…explaining that challenge, the frustration, the mistakes, the help, the strategies and the hard work are all part of learning something new, all part of leading towards learning success. 

Being in ‘The Pit’ is not just a job for children, and as adults we find ourselves there often. One Pit that I’m deep in at the moment is around how we assess your children in reading, writing and maths…and how do we report this to you? We still have no guidance or information from the Ministry, and as I head further into the Pit I’m finding myself more frustrated. But like any learner, I’m trying to work my way back up out of the Pit by working through some strategies:

So what do we know?

• We have a new curriculum for reading, writing and maths, and we know that the expectations inside these documents are higher than the previous 2007 curriculum. This is not a bad thing, but it is a difference we have to grapple with. 

• We know that the Minister last year stated numeracy and literacy data to be very low across the country (in 2023 the NMSSA data showed 82% of Year 4 children in New Zealand were working at an expected level or higher in Maths, and 42% of Year 8 children. In 2024 the same testers tested against the new curriculum and the data there is much, much lower…Year 3 at 20%, Year 6 at 28% and Year 8 at 22%.) Last year no one was teaching the new curriculum as it didn’t exist, but it does now. All schools can expect a drop in achievement data. 

• We know that our teaching practice works…just looking at Maths, over 80% of our DPS children were Kua Mārama or higher last year (working at the old curriculum expectation or higher). Our standardised test results back this up…with Year 3 - 6 all performing above the national average

• We know however, as I’ve said…that despite our great results last year, we can expect our achievement data to drop this year against the new, higher expectations in the new curriculum. Radio New Zealand interviewed me about this a few weeks back…and I was quoted as saying: 

  • "It's not like you can say 'now the kids have to do better' and they start doing better. So it may take time to lift achievement back up where it is needing to be now," he said.

So what are we doing?

• Children are still learning as they were last year, but the difference is we are drawing from the new curriculum in our planning

• Our teaching practice is still great, still evidence based and still at the innovative end of the scale. What we do works. 

• Some of our testing is still appropriate to use and we are using these tools. Some of the testing we used to do is no longer appropriate

• We are still sharing learning stories with you via HERO, still sharing what learning is looking like for your child

• Teachers are engaging with the new curriculum, doing their own learning about the new expectations and what these look like for learners. 

So…what can we do next?

• A group of local principals are coming together to discuss these issues, and make sure we are being consistent as a town

• We can expect our achievement data to drop…and potentially drop quite a lot. This doesn’t mean children are going backwards in their learning, rather it is just a reflection of the raised expectations in the new curriculum. 

• We can still inform you of what your child has been learning, and how they are progressing with it. 

• We can still share stories via HERO of what your child is doing in class, what they are making, what they are participating in.

All of this does have an impact on you. We will be having our ‘Learning Conversations’ with you in Week 11 (Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th of April). These form part of our reporting to whānau, and historically part of the conversation would be the teacher sharing how your child is progressing and achieving against the curriculum expectations (The dials and graphs in HERO). At this stage it is looking increasingly unlikely we will be able to do this against the new curriculum with you. We will be able to share what your child has been learning, how that is going and where to next for them…which is actually the important stuff…but will not be able to share how they are achieving against the new curriculum (not yet anyway). 

So…while we may be deep in the Learning Pit, we are working our way through it and you can be assured our awesome staff are still doing amazing things with our learners. Progress is being seen, celebrated and shared.