Getting Started

About your Curriculum Planning Tools

This site provides your Local Curriculum Planning Tools (your Toolkit). Use the Toolkit to talk, plan, and share curriculum information. It is a way to connect with your local curriculum community: Kāhui Ako, schools and kura.


Share conversations, information and curriculums

The Toolkit is a reliable, supportive way to build a learning community. It is based on Te Whāriki 2017 and the New Zealand Curriculum. Use its tools to create a shareable local curriculum, with conversations, information, and your visions for ākonga.

You can start and guide conversations. Across-school leads can take responsibility for a conversation, and invite others to participate.

You can share ideas, information, and community relationships. This enriches the educational experience of your ākonga and community.

The Toolkit can also help you keep vision and strategy at the forefront of your decisions. You can share your vision for ākonga as pathways, relationships, and learning opportunities. Support this with collaborative inquiry and conversations.


Four tools to support your local curriculum community

Your Toolkit has four Curriculum Tools. Each one supports a local curriculum action with a framework, easy-to-use templates, and a review process.


Coherent Pathways Tool

Develop coherent learning pathways for ākonga. You’ll share strategies and agree on transition statements.


Relationships for Learning Tool

Build and sustain strong, purposeful community relationships. Details and agreements make it easy to track and share these relationships.


Collaborative Inquiry Tool

Undertake collaborative inquiries. Each collaboration captures discussions, action plans, and progress.


Rich Learning Opportunities Tool

Design and implement rich learning opportunities. A structured yet flexible pathway lets you note contributions from ākonga, communities, and teachers.


Use the Toolkit to design and share a curriculum

Here are examples of how to use the Toolkit to build, design, and share a curriculum.

We want to have… Apply this Curriculum Tool for these actions
Shared understanding of ākonga progress Coherent Pathways Tool

Explore, capture, and share what is important to create a continuity of learning experiences for ākonga.

Shared understanding of important learning and transitions Coherent Pathways Tool

Create and statements at key transitions for ākonga.

Record and share the capabilities your community believes are too important to leave to chance.

A graduate profile for our local curriculum community Coherent Pathways Tool

Explore what is important for ākonga as they transition from school to participating fully in our society.

Reach into the community Relationships for Learning Tool

Document community relationships that can support your students and your learning community.

Capture the benefits of ākonga learning from and with their communities – socially, politically, economically, and culturally.

Learn how ākonga can contribute to, and help shape, their communities.

Coordination for collaborative inquiries Collaborative Inquiry Tool

Invite teachers to discuss important issues that can strengthen teaching and learning for their learning community.

Help leadership identify areas that the learning community needs to discuss

Support teachers as they develop inquiry proposals.

Monitor inquiry progress and share inquiry findings with the learning community.

Connection for innovative teachers who are keen to work together Collaborative Inquiry Tool

Invite teachers to collaborate and probe issues that could strengthen teaching practice in areas important to the learning community.

A deep and wide curriculum Rich Learning Opportunities Tool

Draw on your environment and community relationships to design meaningful learning opportunities.

Design opportunities for ākonga to contribute to their communities.

Build the community and ākonga capabilities you've agreed to prioritise.