The Religious Education Curriculum for Catholic Schools in Aotearoa

Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith

(Version for printing here: PDF print-as-image)
Spiral-bound hard-copies also available from Pleroma

Where we are at

Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith was approved by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference in December 2021. Since then the National Centre for Religious Studies has been working closely with diocesan religious education advisors, managers of Catholic education, principals, teachers, and many other members of the Catholic community to provide resources to support teaching and learning. For our small team, this will take time and as such this site will have gaps until at least 2026 as we roll out material to schools and populate the areas.

(Schools are not expected to use the new curriculum until it is resourced.)

The proposed timeline has been widely circulated. In summary, draft resources for teachers will become available on this site as follows:

  • Phase of Learning 1 – Years 1 and 2 – Available now
  • Phase of Learning 1-2 – Years 3 and 4 – Available now
  • Phase of Learning 2 – Years 5 and 6 – Available early 2025
  • Phase of Learning 3 – Years 7 and 8 – One full Content Area and Background Notes for all Themes Available early 2025
  • Phase of Learning 4 – Years 9 and 10 – Available now
  • Phase of Learning 5-1 – Year 11 – Available now
  • Phase of Learning 5-2 – Year 12 – Available now (But not necessarily linked to NCEA as MoE have an AS pause! (We’ll be in touch))
  • Phase of Learning 5-3 – Year 13 – Available mid 2026 (Awaiting NCEA Review.)

Key Documents:

Emerging support videos:

In association with NZCEO, Te Kupenga (NCRS) is providing PLD on the Te Rama Aroha Cross Themes:
Grace, Holiness, Wisdom, Justice, Prayer.

And, in response to requests, there are instructions for adding links to your own planning, and we’ve made an introduction clip for using this web-site:

Icons and posters for your own use at school:

Teachers are most welcome to download our icons to support quality whānau and student material linking to Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith Themes, Cross-Themes, and Touchstones. You are also welcome to print your own Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith posters: Curriculum Overview Grid; Cover-page; Themes and Cross-Themes; and Touchstones.