Learning at Waiuku College reflects a localised implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum.
The New Zealand Curriculum vision is for young people who will:
- be creative, energetic, and enterprising
- seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies to secure a sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental future for our country
- work to create an Aotearoa New Zealand in which Māori and Pākehā recognise each other as full Treaty partners, and in which all cultures are valued for the contributions they bring
- in their school years, continue to develop the values, knowledge, and competencies that will enable them to live full and satisfying lives
- be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners.
Confident
- positive in their own identity
- motivated and reliable
- resourceful
- enterprising and entrepreneurial
- resilient
Connected
- able to relate well to others
- effective users of communication tools
- connected to the land and environment
- members of communities
- international citizens
Actively involved
- participants in a range of life contexts
- contributors to the well-being of New Zealand – social, cultural, economic, and environmental
Lifelong learners
- literate and numerate
- critical and creative thinkers
- active seekers, users, and creators of knowledge
- informed decision makers
Foundations of curriculum decision making
The principles set out below embody beliefs about what is important and desirable in school curriculum – nationally and locally. They should underpin all school decision making.
These principles put students at the centre of teaching and learning. The principles maintain learners should experience a curriculum that engages and challenges them, is forward-looking and inclusive, and affirms New Zealand’s unique identity.
Although similar, the principles and the values have different functions. The principles relate to how curriculum is formalised in a school; they are particularly relevant to the processes of planning, prioritising, and review. The values are part of the everyday curriculum – encouraged, modelled, and explored.
All curriculum should be consistent with these eight statements.
High expectations
The curriculum supports and empowers all students to learn and achieve personal excellence, regardless of their individual circumstances.
Treaty of Waitangi
The curriculum acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand. All students have the opportunity to acquire knowledge of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga.
Cultural diversity
The curriculum reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people.
Inclusion
The curriculum is non-sexist, non-racist, and non-discriminatory; it ensures that students’ identities, languages, abilities, and talents are recognised and affirmed and that their learning needs are addressed.
Learning to learn
The curriculum encourages all students to reflect on their own learning processes and to learn how to learn.
Community engagement
The curriculum has meaning for students, connects with their wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau, and communities.
Coherence
The curriculum offers all students a broad education that makes links within and across learning areas, provides for coherent transitions, and opens up pathways to further learning.
Future focus
The curriculum encourages students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation.
To be encouraged, modelled, and explored
Values are deeply held beliefs about what is important or desirable. They are expressed through the ways in which people think and act.
Every decision relating to curriculum and every interaction that takes place in a school reflects the values of the individuals involved and the collective values of the institution.
By holding and acting on the values on the list below, we can thrive and live together. The list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive.
Students will be encouraged to value:
- excellence, by aiming high and by persevering in the face of difficulties
- innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively
- diversity, as found in our different cultures, languages, and heritages
- equity, through fairness and social justice
- community and participation for the common good
- ecological sustainability, which includes care for the environment
- integrity, which involves being honest, responsible, and accountable and acting ethically.
They will also respect themselves, others, and human rights.
The specific ways in which these values find expression in an individual school will be guided by dialogue between the school and its community. They should be evident in the school’s philosophy, structures, curriculum, classrooms, and relationships.
When the school community has developed strongly held and clearly articulated values, those values are likely to be expressed in everyday actions and interactions within the school.
Through their learning experiences, students will learn about:
- their own values and those of others
- different kinds of values, such as moral, social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic values
- the values on which New Zealand’s cultural and institutional traditions are based
- the values of other groups and cultures.
Through their learning experiences, students will develop their ability to:
- express their own values
- explore, with empathy, the values of others
- critically analyse values and actions based on them
- discuss disagreements that arise from differences in values and negotiate solutions
- make ethical decisions and act on them.
All the values listed above can be expanded into clusters of related values that collectively suggest their fuller meanings. For example, “community and participation for the common good” is associated with values and notions such as peace, citizenship, and manaakitanga.