Join the MOE Curriculum Roadshow for Leaders!

 Reforming England's schools: a case study

Biography

The Rt Hon Sir Nick Gibb was the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton from 1997 to 2024, serving for 27 years. He was also a Minister for Schools for over 10 years under four Prime Ministers. Before becoming an MP, he worked as a chartered accountant at KPMG for 13 years.

As Schools Minister, Nick introduced the Phonics Screening Check, Multiplication Tables Check, and reformed the Primary National Curriculum, GCSEs, and A levels. As Education Minister, he overhauled the teacher training framework, CPD PLD for new teachers, and reformed National Professional Qualifications. He also introduced the Mandarin Excellence Programme and Model Music Curriculum.

England's reading ability for 9-year-olds ranked 4th globally, and maths improved from 17th to 11th place in the PISA survey, mainly due to its reforms. The Daily Telegraph called him "the most influential schools minister in England’s history."

Since May 2024, Nick has been the Education Development Trust’s International Education Advisor.

Keynote

England's PISA rankings dropped from 7th to 25th between 2000 and 2009. This was due to progressive ideology, poor teaching rigour and student behaviour. 

Reading

He met a teacher who used phonics and began to understand the debate between whole language and phonics.

Using a photo to understand words doesn't work. 

Clackmannanshire Study results - excellent results from systematic phonics, which is why Britain adopted these.

Introduced phonics screening test at 6 years, with another one the following year if they fail.

Maths

England's PISA rankings dropped from 8th to 26th between 2000 and 2012. Too many methods are being taught, but no algorithms or times tables knowledge. Using a timetable test to ascertain where ākonga are at.

E.D Hirsch - higher-level schools come from knowledge-rich content. Need knowledge before skills.

England has shifted from Professor-driven control of education to teacher-driven control. 

Presentation and Panel Discussion: Unpacking the Curriculum framework and learning area structure

Supporting equity and Te Tiriti

Clarity around a knowledge-rich 

What is a knowledge-rich curriculum?

1. Selective of content
2. Coherent within a learning area and across the subjects
3. Sequencing is essential, and prior knowledge
4. Content is specific and clear

Capabilities, not key competencies, are embedded in subjects

Comms

Relating

Self management

Understand, know, do is now. In the purpose statement, the understanding sits alongside these. There are now knowledge statements and practice statements with capabilities.

Changes from the original 

English - strengthened language around structured language, content has been streamlined, and duplications removed. 

Maths - moved algorithmic thinking to technology

Improved coherence for fractions and decimals

Twice-yearly assessments

Technology all strands need teaching from 0-8

Learning a Language is not compulsory.

Panel

Looked across the world for curricula that are working - our curriculum utilised best practice and what was happening in other countries.

Knowledge-rich means rich from the start in terms of knowledge and content, but then teachers look at how to teach. In competency-based systems, these are often started with, leaving many things to chance. Makes sense to build on a sequence.

International research shows that curricula that have a sequenced base have better student outcomes compared to competency-based.

Also, research on cognitive load backs the knowledge-rich curriculum.

There is considerable variability currently in what and how ākonga are taught.

Managing Cognitive Load is Imperative - all teachers need to understand cognitive load theory

Track data longitudinally

Strategic Leadership for Curriculum Change

Biography

Kyle Brewerton is the Principal at Remuera Intermediate School in central Auckland and the immediate past president of the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association. With three decades of experience in primary and middle school education, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, Kyle brings a wealth of expertise in leading transformational change across diverse educational contexts.

Since taking on the principalship in 2002, Kyle has led schools in Aotearoa New Zealand, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. His leadership is grounded in research-informed practice, particularly in inquiry-based learning, thinking for understanding, and leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning. He has driven system-level research into Aotearoa New Zealand’s school resourcing and workforce structures, presenting policy recommendations to national stakeholders.

Kyle is widely respected for his work in curriculum reform, leadership development, and building staff capacity. He remains passionate about nurturing future school leaders and creating sustainable, impactful change. His current focus includes facilitating transformation in complex environments, striking a balance between achieving quick wins and maintaining a long-term strategic vision.

Keynote

Change is constant

The seeds of change

Self - ideas from me

Organic - ideas that grow from within

External - Government policies and initiatives

Do Less, Well - thinking, planning and acting strategically.

Vision - beliefs - strategy

• What and why
• our way of being
• focusing your energy - what are you going to remove if you bringing things in
• involve everyone

Implementation

• Create the conditions for success
• PLD, resources, Roles and responsibilities, timelines, budget, measures, critical reflection
• Right people, right seats and then you grow them
• Look for impact, data, in all its forms
• Celebrate and share often, warts all - https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins

Sustaining

• Trust but verify
• Alignment, people, resources, policies and procedures
• Regularly revisit, review and refine

Lessons learned and quick wins

• Read Harvard Business Review - culture shaped by systems
• McKinsey & Company - beating the transformational odds
• Who Moved My Cheese - Dr Spencer Johnson
• Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman

Structured Literacy as a Lever for Change

Speakers will present compelling data on structured literacy and its impact on student achievement. This session highlights how literacy can be a strategic entry point for broader curriculum change. Professor Gail Gillon (CHC and ROT only), Carla McNeil (WLG and AKL only)

Keynote

Working forever to improve literacy rates forever. If we cannot see data nationwide, then how can we have brave conversations? Is our vision driven by our data, particularly literacy data - Innovative, Connected, Empowered learners driving their passion for learning. Now we have a knowledge-rich, rather than a competency-based, curriculum. Do we need to rework our vision?

Structured Literacy is not a programme but a strategic approach for teaching all aspects of literacy. Depending on where we are, we may have three-tiered support, and we do!

"Schools need a clear framework  to understand and respond to different levels of need" - Stollar and Brown, 2025

• Do we have an impactful assessment?
• Do we have the structures in place for tiers of support? Should we discuss multi-tiered support or talk about our Tier 1 and Tier 2 students? Focus on the support, not pigeon-holing the ākonga
• 
  

Impactful Assessment as a Lever for Change

• Was this a valid and reliable picture?
• 
  
• Does your assessment schedule include screening, diagnostic and progress monitoring?
• Do all assessments drive decision-making in all areas
• Teaching and learning
• Professional learning allocation
• tiers of instructional support
• Do we have an allocation system?

The SMART tool is being developed; there may be some alignment with EASstle, as that serves as a starting point.  This tool is being trialled and developed to align to the curriculum.

New requirements for Assessment

Twice-yearly assessment from Year 3 to 8

Asking to utilise the SMART tool, however, EAsstle and PATs are still okay in 2026, if we feel rushed.

Curriculum coming out on 25 October 2025

Practice in Action: Leading Maths Transformation

Biography

Ko Michelle Rigby tōku ingoa.

I am a New Zealand-trained teacher with over two decades of experience teaching in the UK. After 21 rewarding years in England, I returned home to Aotearoa in 2021 and now work at Te Kura o Tuahiwi, North Canterbury. In addition to my teaching role, I serve as an Across School Leader (ASL) for our Kāhui Ako Kātote where I lead on Pāngarau.

For the past 17 years, I have specialised in Pāngarau. I hold a Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Mathematics Specialist Teaching from King’s College, London, and completed professional development training through the UK’s National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). My roles in the UK included serving as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) for Maths and the Creative Curriculum through the West Essex Teaching School Alliance, and I was an active member of the local Maths Hub.

Keynote

Whole Class - Explicit Teaching - Exposure to task and content

Practice in Action: Literacy Leadership in Action

Biography

Felicity Fahey is the Deputy Principal at Kaiapoi North School and has led the implementation and ongoing development of structured literacy in her school since 2019. Felicity has since shared her expertise by providing professional development to many teachers and schools across New Zealand.

Passionate about evidence-based practices, Felicity coaches teachers, leads school-wide professional development, and has helped implement effective writing approaches like The Writing Revolution (TWR) and Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD). With extensive experience as a primary school teacher and deputy principal, she has contributed to the development of the English Curriculum, the Common Practice Model, and the Teaching Council's explicit instruction tasks. Most recently, Felicity has worked with The Teachers’ Institute to develop an evidence-based Initial Teacher Education programme.

Keynote

They are on the same path as us.

Assessment

I was privileged to attend the National Assessment Conference 2021 and the Gifted NEX Online Symposium to start the holidays. Below are my key takeaways and provocations for my practice moving forward. 

I shared this with staff during term three at a leadership meeting.

If I have an apprehension in New Zealand at the moment, it's not because we're not smart enough. It's because we're not courageous enough. - Pat Sneeden 2017

This quote is an excellent thought to hold onto as I look into the assessment of ākonga. Changing our students, whanau, and community thinking on assessment will require courage.

Over and over again, we hear that the knowledge of the learner is most critical. Do we know our students at a deep level? How do they learn, what stops them from learning, what frustrates them? Who do they think are the champions that support them and want to help them?

Any assessment needs to build the mana and connectedness of students and be a partnership between the student and teachers.

Webber and Macfarlane 2018 unpack what mana is for gifted Maori students.

• Mana Tangatarua: being confident and open to appreciating differences. 
• Mana Tū: being persistent and determined
• Mana Motuhake: having a positive self-concept concerning learning and success.
• Mana Ūkaipo: understanding they belong and have connections to places and spaces.
• Mana Whānau: are connected to whānau and aware of collective agency.

Can these also be utilised with all students to support their learning? How does assessment look if we are considering mana enhancement?

Suppose we are talking about the learner's knowledge. Could a learner profile support both the learner and their supports to deepen the understanding of the individual? 

• Could this learner profile help them realise they have things to teach others and have something they can learn from them?
• Understand they are connected, and their culture is valued.
• Support who they are and from where they come.
• Identify positive role models that they can aspire to mirror.
• Show that many people from their cultural group have achieved success.
• Identify what they are good at and help them know what areas they need to develop.
• Support them to understand their family, peers, teachers, and members of the wider school community care about them.
• Support them to know what their gifts, academic strengths and interests are.

We must always keep asking the questions of why are we testing? What is the purpose? Do our assessments ensure the realisation of the Learning Support Action Plan vision?

A vision for an inclusive education system where every child feels a sense of belonging, is present, makes progress, where their wellbeing is safeguarded and promoted, where learning is a lifelong journey, and where children and young people with learning support needs get the right support at the right time.

This Learning Support Action Plan vision caters for the students on the edges however if we plan and prepare to those edges we get benefits for all students.

Trauma-Informed Practice - Dr. Emma Woodward

 What is trauma-informed practice?

What can we do in our practice to bring out others' best?

• Strengths and competencies-based approach.
• It helps develop the potential of ākonga.

The Four R's

✓Realising the prevalence

✓Recognising the signs

✓Responding effectively

✓Resisting re-traumatisation

Events are distressing for example the cyclone was a distressing event not a traumatic event. Trauma is what happens inside of you after an unfortunate event. People say the event is traumatic. However, trauma is the result of an event on a person.

Trauma impacts how we interact and connect with others, it is more severe if there is an attachment for example a primary caregiver. How do you break through and gain the trust and connection with that individual who has trauma created by a parent or sibling?

A trauma informed approach is:

A strengths-based model of service delivery which focuses on an

individual’s strengths and competencies.

Ask, don't tell. Two ears, one mouth

Our kids are losing hope - society has not kept up with the evolution of technology and the world. Ākonga disillusionment is the most significant risk for the future.

Changing the direction of young people is very simple. Keeping it simple, a safe caregiver, a teacher who likes them etc

A lot is going on for us and our ākonga. Let us not get overwhelmed. Instead, think about the starfishes washed onto the beach. We can not save them all. However, we can save what we can and make a difference to those we help.

An old man walks along a beach and sees a young boy throwing something into the water. As he approaches, he sees hundreds of starfish lining the beach washed in from the tide. The young boy is rushing around, throwing the starfish back into the water one by one. The old man asks why he bothers, it’s pointless. There are too many starfish to help them all. As he flings a starfish deep into the water, the young boy replies, “It mattered to that one.”

Resilience is important. However, we are past focusing on this as we have done well in the past teaching resilience. We now need to focus on teaching hope and develop trauma focussed practice.

Evolutionary speaking, the brain is there to keep the body alive, and the body is there to keep the brain alive. Everything else is a response to external cues.

Trauma Processing

Distressing event plus bandaids (BCE's) = able to move on

Distressing event minus bandaid (no BCEs) = trauma and possible frozen memory. This trauma can lead to a nervous system response with flight, flight avoidance, acting out etc.

The window of tolerance is an area between hyper and hypo arousal. This window of tolerance is where you work your best.

Shame

• unmet need for love
• exclusion
• unwanted exposure
• disappointed expectations

Neuroplasticity

You can rewire your brain right through your life. Making new neural connections can strengthen pathways and weaken other older routes. Several trauma therapies can rewire the brain. Trauma does not go away until addressing the trauma has occurred.

"Every interaction is a potential intervention" - Liz Kennedy

Assessment informs intervention - be curious; trauma and ADHD mirror the same symptoms.

Attachment and academic outcomes are linked.

Attachment and positive life outcomes are linked.

You only need to be good enough 30% of the time as a parent. If you are too good, e.g. a lawnmower or helicopter parent, ākonga are not exposed to risk and will not develop strategies to cope with distressing events.

Developing a secure base for a child

• Available to the child
• Accepting
• Support them to make a positive contribution
• Create a sense of belonging
• Sensitive

Children cannot yet regulate, and they rely on adults for co-regulation. Co-regulation must come before self-regulation. Self-regulation comes before self-control. We, as adults, must be regulated before we can support children. 

Compassion

Self-Compassion

• Way of connecting kindly to ourselves
• Supports mental health
• Sustainable over time
• Requires feeling good about yourself

Self Esteem

• Positive evaluation of self-worth
• Supports mental health
• Situation dependent
• Requires feeling better than others

My Self-compassion script

"Bugger - I need to think about this. Next time will be better."

A new awakening about my lack of self-compassion is triggering as I have good self-esteem. I am not compassionate about myself, making it hard to be compassionate to others. I need to be more self-compassionate—something to work on and develop.

How to ‘BE’ – P(L)ACE Yourself Alongside the Child

Playfulness – light and bringing positive experiences to the forefront

(Loving) – tender, kind and gentle

Acceptance – UPR – "if they could, they would"

Curiosity – wondering about the meaning behind the behaviour

Empathy/compassion - means actively showing the child that their inner life is important to you and that you want to be (and can tolerate) the child in their harder times.

Develop Boundaries – set expectations and limits.

Talking about trauma with whānau

When working with whānau, you could

• ensure they know the purpose of the hui
• utilise the Therapeutic Needs Hierarchy is possibly good to guide how to proceed. 
• Make sure you are well prepared and have a plan b
• Utilise learning talk to support conversation
• use the six levels of validation

Trauma is not damage 

- a child is not a damaged child if they have had trauma.

It is an entirely appropriate, functional adaptation by the brain in response to a maladaptive environment.

There are issues when brain development based on experiences is not developed enough to function in society.

If we can't say it, we do it – those feelings have to come out somewhere - behaviour is just communicating an unmet need.

Needs-based questions to understand the behaviour

1. Observation - what do I see?
2. Curiosity - what could it be?
3. Compassion - What does this child need from me?

"Thinking of a child as 'behaving badly' disposes you to think of punishment.

Thinking about a child's behaviour through a curious lens encourages you to seek to understand and help them through their distress."

Get curious, NOT furious!

Building Emotional Literacy

What's the difference between an emotion and a feeling?

Emotions are unprocessed, raw data. A feeling is the sense we make of those sensations.

Interoception lets us notice those sensations to catch the emotional message to inform our response. Developing brains, children who have experienced developmental adversity, and those who are neurodivergent can struggle with interoception.

If you practice when it's easy, it's easier when it's hard.

Distress Tolerance and Coping Skills

Give bounded choices, either or choice, ākonga trying to stay safe every minute of the day may lack the energy and capacity for making decisions.

Develop values-led action - being values-led is a way we

can learn to trust ourselves. 

With ākonga, what is the value? How will the action occur? Context, when will the action happen?

A Support Plan

Rupture and Repair

• Restorative rather the punitive - in line with trauma-informed practice
• Repair Scripts 
• De-escalation tip

Tip 1. Keep your focus on the end goal

When dysregulation and escalation occur- which they will - the end goal of these events and our actions is safety.

Goal: Making sure you are all SAFE.

This is NOT the time for consequences, threats, bribes, bargaining, reasoning, restoration or punishment.

Tip 2. Take your time

When a student is dysregulated, we can’t rush them through their feelings.

We CAN support them and provide a safe space for them.

What does this mean for me?

My role and influence is to

• understand what ākonga are trying to tell us through their behaviour - what is the unmet need?
• lead PB4L for teachers to consider the lense of trauma when interacting with ākonga
• expose and support teacher's to uncover their unconscious bias
• encourage using multiple lenses to look at ākonga behaviour
• connect educators with the knowledge and the individuals to support them to support ākonga
• Never use shame as a tool
• Give bounded choices, either or choice when dealing with dysregulated ākonga
• Offer ākonga a hot drink if dysregulated to help them calm down
• have professional conversations with teachers and whānau about whether there is trauma in the ākonga background and what can be done to support this.
• develop and understanding of Te Ao Maori perspective of trauma.

In conclusion, trauma-informed practice is a strengths-based model of service delivery that focuses on an individual’s strengths and competencies. It is essential to understand the impact of trauma and how it influences our interactions and connections with others. By using a trauma-informed approach, we can identify the unmet needs of individuals and respond effectively through the Four R's, resist re-traumatisation, and develop hope. It is crucial to develop a secure base for children, which includes being available, accepting, supporting, creating a sense of belonging, and being sensitive. Developing co-regulation before self-regulation and self-control is essential, as well as having self-compassion and compassion for others. By incorporating these practices into our work, we can make a positive difference to those we help and be the ones that matter, even if we can't save them all.