Education – Reflections on 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, I’m reflecting on how much has shifted across the education landscape this year. If there’s one constant, it’s that nothing has stayed still for long.

This has been a year that demanded adaptability. Shifts in curriculum direction, changes to NCEA, new expectations, new pressures, and at times a sense of uncertainty about where education is heading. Yet despite all of this, our young people have continued to learn, create, lead, and strive for more. And our staff have continued to show up each day with a commitment that deserves real recognition.

It’s easy to read headlines and imagine that schools are overwhelmed, but the real story is far more hopeful. Amid the challenges has been genuine progress.

We’ve seen improvements in learner engagement, stronger academic results across several areas, and a schoolwide lift in the consistency of teaching practice. Our Trades Academy continues to grow, while our bicultural and multilingual programmes mature in ways that reflect our community’s identity and aspirations. And importantly, our commitment to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi has remained steadfast, regardless of the political breeze blowing through Wellington.

Wellbeing has remained a major theme this year, for our young people, staff and families as digital pressures, social media challenges, and the pace of modern life continue to weigh on our learners and their whānau. 

But there have been hundreds of moments that remind us why education matters. The packed auditorium for school productions, the Year 10s heading off on camp, the senior academic prizegiving, the technology showcase, the everyday wins in classrooms, in each of these moments you see a community that believes in its young people.

If there is one collective hope for 2026, it’s this: calm, settled classrooms and a settled, predictable education environment.

Schools thrive when expectations are clear, when the curriculum is stable, and when learners feel safe, supported, and focused. The past few years have been turbulent, and it’s time for the sector, and the children at the centre of it, to experience sustained calm. The kind of environment where teachers can teach their best, and learners can feel fully present and confident.

At a local level, we are well placed for this next step. A calmer year won’t mean “less”, it will mean the opportunity to go deeper, to do the important work without constant external noise.

If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that communities matter more than ever. Schools cannot do the work alone. The strength of the partnership between whānau, school, and wider community has been the engine behind this year’s progress.

As we head into the summer break, my overriding reflection is one of optimism, and 2026 is an opportunity, not for reinvention, but for consolidation, calm, and deeper impact. 

Here’s to a safe, restful summer and a hopeful, settled start to 2026.