At Arakura School in Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, lunchtime isn’t just about food – it’s about community, connection and learning. Instead of outsourcing school lunches, staff and tamariki grow, prepare and serve nutritious kai together. The entire school gathers each day to share a meal, turning lunchtime into a rich learning experience.
From 2023 the decades old decile system will be replaced with the equity index (EQI), with support increasing by $75m per annum. Daryl Aim, the tumuaki at Natone Park School in Waitangirua in east Porirua, spoke to Ako about the impact of the old system and what the new system means for the future.
Exploring local history is one way schools can connect to the new Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum. Ako caught up with two Auckland schools who are uncovering local history right under their feet.
Conor Twyford, the new Community Organiser at NZEI Te Riu Roa, talks about the work she’s doing and how she’s supporting members to get active on climate change. “If we’re going to tackle the big issues like climate change,” Twyford says, “we need to do it in community, we need to do it together.”
Michelle Simms, the librarian at Te Totara Primary School, talks about some of the ways she supports literacy at the school.
Nerra Lealiifano-Tamarua considers herself blessed.
“I am one of the lucky generation of Pasifika New Zealanders who learned to walk in two worlds. I’m confident and successful as a Samoan and as a Kiwi – and that’s what I want for the students I teach.”
A number of mainstream schools like Otari School can date their Māori immersion units back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, developing alongside the Kura Kaupapa Māori movement.
For nearly a decade, Kapanui School in Waikanae has been using kapa haka as a way of building community in and around the school – and the benefits have been extraordinary for both Māori and non-Māori students.
Schools are finding new ways to integrate arts and science into the curricula, like this Kawerau school and its student-led photography project.
Collins is a teacher at Corinna School in Porirua. She is passionate about inclusive teaching and learning practices., and is a practitioner of the Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) pedagogy.
Hita Foster shares her kaupapa of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, inspiring educators and schools to draw ideas from Te Marautanga o Aotearoa when designing their own curriculum in their areas.
Dr. Alex Gunn thinks curiously about the place and possibility of critically oriented curriculum from early childhood education me ngā Kōhanga Reo into kura and school.