Check list of actions for Term 1

For Years 0-8

• Start using the English and Te Reo Rangatira curriculum for Years 0-6 and the maths and Pāngarau curriculum for Years 0-8.
• Check out the implementation hub on Tāhūrangi.
• Get started with maths and Pāngarau curriculum days.
• Start using the new maths resources and Pāngarau activity packs.
• Access resources and guidance to start using phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro.
• Access PLD for structured literacy approaches, structured maths, Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Rangaranga Pāngarau.
• Access new guidance for structured literacy staffing if your school received this funding.

For Years 9-13

• Check out the implementation hub on Tāhūrangi.
• Take part in the consultation on English and Te Reo Rangatira (Y7-13) and maths and Pāngarau (Y9-13) curriculum.
• Review your 2024 NCEA and Co-requisite results.
• Start using the revised achievement standards and supporting materials for NCEA assessment.
• Find out more about online RAMP workshops for NCEA subjects, and book a place if one is available for your subject(s).

Celebrating progress

Together, we are already making significant progress in our curriculum change journey. Here are some of the highlights so far:

• 4,187 teachers are currently engaging with Structured Literacy Approaches (SLA) and Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā PLD, with another 4,233 due to start this term.
• 965 schools have received funding for the Structured Literacy Approaches staffing resource for Years 0-2. 
• 907 schools are engaging with maths PLD in 2025 and 2026
• 1890 schools and 433,132 students in English-medium settings have been supplied maths resources.
• 315 kura have received Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau resources.
• 164 secondary schools and immersion units are taking part in PLD to support students who are most likely to struggle to meet the NCEA Co-requisite requirements.
   

We have had some great feedback from schools taking part in the Maths PLD:

"It was awesome!  I heard so many rich, mathematical conversations, and was thrilled to hear everyone saying how much they loved the make-up of the day. The staff commented on how good the day was, so worthwhile and helpful."

"Really enjoyed the content and the pace."

We have also had some fantastic early feedback on the new phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro (more information on these checks below):

"The information is so clear and easy to follow. The resources are great. Although we haven't used it yet, the whole package is very user friendly. Thanks for making the information digestible and accessible to schools."

“It’s been really exciting to see kaiako and kura leveraging and fine tuning their teaching to respond to the needs of the mokopuna being picked up through Hihira Weteoro. Kaiako love how easy it is to administer the task and we’ve already picked up potential barriers such as hearing loss and dyslexia.”

If you have any more feedback to share, email us at [email protected] 

Implementation hub

In response to your feedback, we have established an implementation hub on Tāhūrangi to make it easier to keep track of what’s happening and the supports and resources available to implement changes to The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

The implementation hub is on the front page of Tāhūrangi and is the go-to place for all the supporting products and services to help implement change over the next few years:

Implementation supports | Tāhūrangi

It includes a 5-year implementation timeline to give you a picture of the key curriculum and assessment changes taking place between 2024 and 2029, which will be updated each term. 

You’ll also find a kete of previous updates, news items and Te Poutāhū curriculum newsletters.

Curriculum Refresh Updates

Updates to The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa are designed to deliver a strengthened national curriculum that’s knowledge-rich, progression-based and clear about what is expected each year. The new curricula provide greater detail about evidence-based practices that support student learning.  

Getting started with using the revised learning areas and wāhanga ako

Schools and kura are required to use The New Zealand Curriculum Years 0-6 English and Years 0-8 maths learning areas and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa Years 0-6 Te Reo Rangatira and Years 0-8 Pāngarau wāhanga ako from Term 1, 2025.

Curriculum content can be accessed on Tāhūrangi here:  

• English Years 0-6
• Te Reo Rangatira Years 0-6    
• Maths Years 0-8
• Pāngarau Years 0-8  

Supporting resources including videos, resource packs and presentations can be found on the Tāhūrangi implementation hub:

Implementation supports | Tāhūrangi

Curriculum consultation 

We are currently seeking your informed insights and valued feedback on the updated Years 9-13 maths learning area and the new draft Years 7-13 Te Reo Rangatira and Years 9-13 Pāngarau wāhanga ako.

You’ll have the opportunity to have a say on the content until 28 April 2025.

• You can read the draft content for The New Zealand Curriculum and have your say here: Draft Maths Consultation Years 9-13 (Tāhūrangi)
• You can read the draft content for Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and have your say here: Draft Te Reo Rangatira Years 7-13 and Pāngarau Years 9-13 Consultation (Tāhūrangi)

Consultation on the English learning area for Years 7-13 will also be taking place soon. We'll provide further details about this consultation on Tāhūrangi later this month.

Following feedback on these drafts, updated content will be released in Term 4, 2025 and will become required teaching from the start of 2026.

Changes to the curriculum development process for the National Curriculum 

Following a review of our approach to developing the content for the National Curriculum – including drawing on lessons learnt from writing foundational content for English, mathematics and statistics, Te Reo Rangatira and Pāngarau – we are moving towards a more iterative development process.

This process will involve developing the content in smaller steps and working with smaller groups more regularly. See the approach mapped out here: 

How we develop the National Curriculum

By making this change we'll be able to bring in different voices and the right expertise at the right time throughout the development process, including for senior secondary subjects. 

We have confirmed the people who are helping with the first stage of the writing. You can see who we are working with and find out more information here:   

Contributor groups | Tāhūrangi

Update on assessment and aromatawai 

Many of you may have questions about assessment and aromatawai this year, following the introduction of the updated learning areas for the New Zealand Curriculum and wāhanga ako for Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.  

The Ministry of Education is currently working to develop a coherent, whole-of-pathway approach to assessment, aromatawai, reporting and monitoring so that good quality data about students’ learning is available to inform teaching and learning, provides timely information to parents, whānau and caregivers, and helps to inform decisions at every level of the education system. 

That’s why our current focus is on making sure teachers and kaiako have access to reliable tools and supports. The introduction of phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro for students in their first year of school or kura earlier this year is the first of these new tools. 

Work is also currently underway to provide you with detailed Assessment and Aromatawai guidance for leaders, teachers and kaiako, which we will be releasing this shortly.  

Unlike many comparable jurisdictions, New Zealand currently does not have a standardised approach nor standardised assessment tools that provide a clear view of how individual students are progressing across the education system until NCEA Level 1 (Year 11) – and this is too late!  

So, our next step will be looking at assessment and aromatawai tools to improve the quality of information available to help lift student achievement and close the equity gap as part of delivering a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. 

This is an exciting opportunity to lift outcomes for all students and we will have lots more to share with you as this work moves forward. 

Curriculum days

Schools and kura are being provided two curriculum days in 2025. These days can be held during term time and do not need to be made up.

For Years 0-8

The focus of these days is to support the implementation of the new maths and Pāngarau curriculum content. Schools and kura have the option to use this time to support staff participation in maths or Pāngarau PLD in 2025.

More information on the maths PLD available can be found here:

Maths Professional Learning and Development

Information about Pāngarau PLD will be provided later this term.

For Years 9-13

The focus of these days is curriculum and assessment or aromatawai. Schools and kura can choose when in 2025 they hold their first curriculum day and must provide 6 weeks' notice to their community of the selected date.

The remaining day should be used in Term 4 to prepare for implementation of the English, Te Reo Rangatira, maths and Pāngarau curricula in 2026.

For area schools, middle schools, and wharekura

Your school or kura may only close for two curriculum days total in 2025. You will need to work out how best to make use of these days to reflect the different purposes across year levels.
 

Updates for Years 0-8

New Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau resources

Last week, the Minister announced the launch of new resources for kura and schools using Te Marautanga o Aotearoa at Years 0–8, to support your teaching and learning of pānui, tuhituhi, and kōrero, through Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā, and Pāngarau. 

All the resources have been created to guide structured teaching and learning, based on the science of learning, for those learning through te reo Māori. To access the resources and find further information about structured ways of teaching Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau visit Tāhūrangi:

New Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau resources for kura and schools (Tāhūrangi) 

We look forward to receiving your feedback and insights into these resources.

Five sample copies of each resource kit have been sent directly to your kura and schools, and more are available to order on Down the Back of the Chair here:

Down the Back of the Chair | Login

Along with the new professional learning opportunities available this year, these resources will help you to keep delivering high-quality teaching for your ākonga, based on the science of learning.

Structured literacy approaches

New resources and supports webpage 

Tāhūrangi now has a page that details the resources and supports available to you for teaching structured literacy approaches (SLA) and the English learning area for The New Zealand Curriculum.  

Some of the resources are available already and others will become available throughout 2025.  Check out the page here:

Structured literacy resources (Tāhūrangi)

Next round of PLD opening soon

Applications for Cohort 4 of Ministry-funded PLD for structured literacy approaches and Rangaranga Reo -ā-Tā are open from 10 February–3 March 2025. 

Cohort 4 is open to Years 0–8 teachers, prioritising those who have not had any prior training in structured teaching approaches. It will be delivered over Terms 2, 3, and 4 of 2025.

More information – including how to apply, key dates, and the list of approved PLD providers – is available here: 

PLD for structured literacy approaches and Rangaranga-Reo-ā-Tā

Groundbreaking phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro ready for use

New checks are now available to understand how children and mokopuna are progressing in learning early reading skills during their first year at school.

The checks are part of our focus on supporting structured approaches to literacy and Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and are aligned to the refreshed English learning area and Te Reo Rangatira wāhanga ako.

The phonics checks in English, and Hihira Weteoro – a bespoke set of checks created for those learning through te reo Māori – were successfully trialled at the end of 2024. We think these new tools will be instrumental in helping teachers and kaiako improve literacy learning outcomes for their students and ākonga.

The checks are done at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling, with further checks at 55 weeks for those learning through te reo Māori.

To make it as easy as possible to use, both tools can be used digitally or on paper. When done digitally, teachers and kaiako get an instant total mark. The results of the phonics checks can help support planning and professional practise. For example, they may indicate that accelerative learning supports are required to help children and ākonga progress and achieve as expected.

Schools can upload their results to the Ministry’s secure data portal to produce a whole school report summarising progress, achievement, and demographic analyses. The Ministry will also anonymise and aggregate the data to monitor how well the system is supporting early literacy. Additional support for reporting for kura will occur throughout the year and we’ll be in touch with more information.

Materials and guidance for schools and kura using The New Zealand Curriculum are on Tāhūrangi:

Phonics Check – School guidance (Tāhūrangi)

Materials, guidance and information about PLD for Hihira Weteoro can be accessed here:

Hihira Weteoro – guidance for kaiako (Tāhūrangi)

Guidance and further support for the Year 0-2 literacy staffing entitlement 

The first package of guidance is now available for Year 0-2 Ministry funded SLA teachers. 

It clarifies how to get started and details the support/guidance available, including PLD from Term 2. You can find it on Tāhūrangi here:  

SLA staffing resource guidance (Tāhūrangi)  
 

Maths and Pāngarau support 

Structured maths resources 

The Ministry funded maths resources ordered last year are being delivered throughout this term.

For schools that have not yet ordered their Ministry-funded resources, you still can. There’s a range to choose from so you can pick what will work best for your students. All the resources are aligned to the revised maths and statistics learning area for Years 0–8. 

For more information, visit Tāhūrangi: 

Ordering Ministry-funded maths resources (Tāhūrangi)  

Maths and Pāngarau PLD

PLD to support you to embed the revised maths learning area for Years 0-8 is being delivered nationwide from this term.

These facilitated PLD sessions can be held over four days during 2025 and 2026, with Ministry-selected facilitators coming to your school, kura or kāhui ako.

Small and rural schools who have unique requirements for this PLD should contact [email protected] about their needs.

Rangaranga Pāngarau

The delivery of PLD for the Pāngarau wāhanga ako will begin in Term 2 2025, with applications open later this term.

Schools and kura will need to use Salesforce to apply by using an ESL log-in. 

Details on setting up a log-in can be found on the Ministry’s PLD webpage:

Professional Learning & Development | Education NZ

Preparing intermediate students for NCEA Co-requisite

To help your Year 7 and 8 students prepare to transition to secondary school and meet the NCEA Co-requisite requirement, we encourage teachers and kaiako to access past Common Assessment Activities (CAA) on NZQA's website:

Literacy and Numeracy exemplars, past assessments, reports and schedules

Updates for Years 9-13

As well as participating in the consultation on the revised learning areas and wāhanga ako for English and Te Reo Rangatira (Years 7-13) and maths and Pāngarau (Years 9-13), this term schools and kura will be getting started with using updated NCEA achievement standards and supporting materials following the NCEA review and maintenance process last year.

New NCEA resources to support implementation 

We have developed new resources to support schools and kura with the implementation of the NCEA Co-requisite. 

Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau | Literacy and Numeracy Resource Guides have organised our collection of related resources for easy use by leaders, teachers and kaiako, whānau and students:

Rauemi for Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau (NCEA)

Literacy and Numeracy resources for teachers and kaiako (NCEA)

Some text and images have been redacted due to copyright restrictions. However, the redacted versions provide links to access the full content. By following these links, schools can access the complete CAA papers and help their students familiarise themselves with the Co-requisite assessments. 

Revised Achievement Standards and supporting materials for assessment

We’d like to remind schools and kura that the Achievement Standards and supporting materials that were updated for 2025 following the annual review and maintenance of the New Zealand Curriculum NCEA subjects are now available on the NCEA Education website.  

Level 1: updated Ministry of Education materials have been available on each subject page’s Learning tab as downloadable PDFs since Term 4, 2024. The website versions of affected standards and supporting materials have now also been published and the PDF versions removed.

Levels 2 and 3: the updates are available as PDFs, organised by subject, on the NCEA website, here: 

Reviewed NZC Achievement Standards and assessment materials for use in 2025 (NCEA)

The corresponding files on the TKI and NZQA websites have also been updated. Expired material will be removed from TKI after Term 1.

More information about the NCEA Review and Maintenance Programme (RAMP), including its purpose and where the updated materials for 2025 can be found is explained in the video here:

NCEA review and maintenance programme (NCEA)

Updated vocabulary lists

Updated NCEA Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 vocabulary lists for Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, French, German and Spanish were published on the NCEA website in December 2024. The new Level 1 list for Te Reo Māori and the new Level 2 and Level 3 vocabulary lists for Gagana Sāmoa, Gagana Tokelau, Lea Faka-Tonga, Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani and Vagahau Niue are expected to be published in late January.

The vocabulary lists are valuable resources designed to help teachers, kaiako and students understand the language expectations for each level, as outlined in The New Zealand Curriculum. They support teachers and kaiako to understand the language that is appropriate at different curriculum levels for language learners, and what students are required to recognise for external assessments.

Please ensure the revised standards and supporting materials are used for assessment in 2025.

Online RAMP workshops for NCEA subjects - support for implementing updates to standards  

Curriculum Advisors, supported by subject associations, are currently conducting online workshops for some subjects affected by the NCEA review and maintenance updates.  

These workshops provide teachers with subject-specific support to help in understanding the changes in the updated materials for 2025. They will again be offered in Term 1 2025, if required. We are pleased to be able to partner with many of our subject associations to support these updates.  

Register for these workshops through our website:

Register for NCEA online workshops (NCEA)

For further NCEA support contact your local curriculum advisors to unpack subject Learning Matrices, Subject Learning Outcomes, and Achievement Standards or to help design courses.  

Regional offices - Ministry of Education

Update from ERO

As you prepare for curriculum change, how will you tailor learning to meet individual learner strengths and interests? If you are a leader or teacher in one of New Zealand’s many composite learning environments, how can you best approach differentiation in your classroom with confidence?

Curriculum change provides an opportunity for leaders and educators to investigate the four keys to strengthening differentiation in planning and delivering learning: from identifying areas for learner progress, through to measuring how effective your practices are. The Education Review Office (ERO) shares these key areas of focus, along with tips, tools, and insights in their latest article: 

Preparing for a differentiated approach to curriculum implementation in the classroom (ERO)

You can read the article on ERO’s website here: 

Preparing for a differentiated approach to curriculum implementation in the classroom (ERO) 

This article is part of a series produced for this publication by ERO to share the good practice they have seen in school improvement and effective change implementation. If there is a particular area you wish for ERO to cover, please email [email protected].   
 

 Further support

Regular check-ins from our regional teams

Our regional teams will be in contact with you at least once per term (more if you have specific matters that need following up) to understand how things are going for you. The purpose of these check ins is to make sure you are aware of the resources and assistance available to you, explore what is working well and discuss any specific needs that may have.

Curriculum Advisory Service 

The Curriculum Advisory Service (CAS) is part of our regional teams and is your go-to place for any information, support or guidance when it comes to matters relating to curriculum and assessment. 
The regionally based teams that make up the CAS guide and support teachers and kaiako, leaders and tumuaki in schools, kura, and early learning services and Kāhui Ako to:

• have a better understanding of government priorities that relate to curriculum and assessment including understanding what this means for you
• get ready for and implement curriculum and assessment change through building capability and supporting change
• embed and sustain change overtime. 

If you need curriculum support and think the CAS can help, then get in touch through your local Ministry office.

Local Ministry offices | education.govt.nz

Networks of Expertise and Kahu Pūtoi

We’re pleased to let you know that the Networks of Expertise and Kahu Pūtoi services have been extended until the end of 2025. This means the current providers will continue to deliver their services during this time. 
Kahu Pūtoi support peer-to-peer networks in te reo Māori education settings and Networks of Expertise support subject associations and other peer-to-peer networks to deliver support for teachers and kaiako.  
If you are looking for this kind of support, register here:

TŪHONO | TŪTAKI | TUARI (Kahu Pūtoi)

You can find more information about the Networks of Expertise here:

Networks of Expertise (PLD)