About ‘one hour a day’

While most schools and kura began implementing this at the start of 2024, specialist schools and kura have extra time to adjust.

Daily focus

Each day, your child will spend an average of one hour on each of the 3 core skills. Daily teaching along with a quality curriculum and good teaching practices, has been shown to improve children's progress and achievement.

Events

Your child can still attend events like sports days and camps. The required teaching time will be balanced across the week.

Support for all

All children are included in the ‘one hour a day’. It incorporates other ways to communicate, such as sign language, augmentative and alternative communication, and Braille.

Existing supports for children with special needs are still in place, and teachers will keep focusing on each child’s strengths.

National Curriculum

The National Curriculum outlines what your child should be able to understand, know and do as they progress through their school years. Teachers will continue to use the curriculum and teach in ways that best suit the learning. This includes using things like active learning opportunities, group work, investigations, practice, and consolidation activities.

The ‘one hour a day’ requirement can be broken up into small blocks throughout the day. Your child’s teacher will manage these to fit the needs of your child.

How you can help at home

There are a lot of ways that you can support your child and reinforce the reading, writing, and maths learning that they’re doing at school. You can find many ideas for Years 1-8 below.

Reading, writing and maths at home

Working with your school

It can be helpful to share your child’s interests, languages spoken at home, and cultural practices with their teachers, so they can be included in your child’s learning. You can also talk with your child or their teacher about their progress in reading, writing, and maths and discuss with their teacher ways you can support your child at home.

For more details, contact your school.