Message from the Secretary for Education

Ellen MacGregor-Reid,Secretary for Education

Kia ora koutou

As 2025 comes to a close, I want to thank you for the extraordinary mahi you do across our education system.

Lifting attendance and strengthening achievement are goals we all share, and I have seen inspiring examples through this year’s Gazette of how they are being brought to life.

In early learning, you continue to create rich, play-based environments that foster oral language, self-regulation and early literacy and numeracy. You are supporting tamariki to begin their learning journey with curiosity, confidence and a sense of belonging.

Structured approaches to literacy and numeracy are being embedded across the motu. Phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro are helping Year 1 learners build strong foundations, while refreshed curricula and achievement standards are supporting more consistent, high-quality learning.

Teachers are embedding structured approaches to help ākonga build a strong foundation. We’ve seen this in action, through the Gazette, in places like Whangaparāoa College and Kaikohe West School where they are using explicit, systematic literacy teaching in both English and te reo Māori to lift reading and writing achievement.

To strengthen attendance and engagement, the Gazette has highlighted areas where you’ve re-engaged rangatahi at risk of leaving education, connecting them with mentors and community role models. Many schools have also adopted stepped response plans, attendance teams and community partnerships to highlight that every day at school counts.

You have also been working to strengthen learning support so that all students can thrive. The Gazette has shown how Franz Josef Glacier School has turned isolation into opportunity through digital learning and community partnerships and how the MacLean Centre at Mount Roskill Grammar School has brought specialist expertise and whānau together to support ākonga with complex needs.

This year, you told us what you value most about the Gazette. We heard that you value this channel as a trusted place to share good work and celebrate educators across Aotearoa; a publication by teachers, for teachers. Looking to 2026, we will continue to make sure your voices and success remain at the heart of this publication. I encourage you to explore the Gazette’s 2026 edition themes and consider sharing the progress unfolding in your own early learning service, school or kura.

On behalf of the Ministry of Education, thank you for your leadership and your dedication.

Ngā mihi nui

Ellen MacGregor-Reid

Te Tumu Whakarae mō te Mātauranga

Secretary for Education