We’ve partnered with Tūturu to create a new cross-curricular resource exploring gaming and gambling.

Visit: tuturu.org.nz/gambling

(It’s free to use, just sign up for a free account.)

Section C is designed for maths and stats teachers (aimed at Year 10, but easily adapted for other secondary school levels). It includes activities on:

• Exploring and discussing data
• Understanding gaming and gambling stats
• Analysing spending on online games and other gaming data from the 2025-26 CensusAtSchool questionnaire, sorting and interpreting open-ended responses
• Exploring probability (combinations and permutations) through lotto-type games

Video: A short intro to the resource is available, led by Dr Pip Arnold

The full resource is designed for use across maths, social studies, and health, and there are practical tools for school leaders too.  Resources include:

• Youth Gaming and Gambling in Aotearoa: curriculum-aligned teaching materials
• Marketing: Energy Drinks, Vaping, Gaming and Gambling: Health Education teaching materials exploring how marketing influences youth behaviour across four topics – curriculum-aligned and adaptable for NZC levels 4–5.
• Introduction to Youth Online Behaviours, Gaming, Gambling and Social Media Use: A short e-learning unit for teachers covering key trends in youth gaming, gambling and social media use in Aotearoa.
• School Board Workbook: An interactive workbook to support Boards in leading whole-school approaches to wellbeing, including youth substance use, gambling and gaming.
• Connections to Wellbeing: A teaching and facilitation guide to help students and staff explore how relationships and connections influence wellbeing outcomes.
• Introduction to Gaming and Gambling and How to Talk About It: A professional development workshop for school staff to build understanding of gambling and gaming harms and how to talk with students about them.

Getting started

All resources are free to use and available at tuturu.org.nz/gambling

Welcome back to Term 3. We hope you had a refreshing break. If you went to NZAMT and saw one of Pip’s sessions about CensusAtSchool, we’d love to hear your feedback.

New Year 2 probability resources

Tricky Trickster

Ākonga will take turns playing a chance-based game that incorporates key vocabulary while anticipating outcomes. This lesson follows on from the Year 1 lesson ‘Lucky Dip’, or played as a warm-up before the ‘Human Slot Machine’ investigation in Year 3.

Rock, paper, scissors

Ākonga will take turns playing this chance-based game that incorporates key vocabulary while anticipating outcomes. They need to play the game several times before undertaking statistical thinking.

Calendar Maths

This lesson is for daily use throughout the year, with ideas for how to teach probability through using these questions and prompts.

Upcoming dates

• August 11–15: Maths Week
• December 5: Statistics Teachers’ Day at the University of Auckland

Can it really be the last week of the term?! We have some upcoming dates for you to put in your calendar:

28 June – 6 July: Garden Bird Survey

A great one-hour citizen science activity for school or home. Resources and bird ID guides available at gardenbirdsurvey.nz.

July 1–3: NZAMT

Come say hi at NZAMT! Pip will be there, taking three sessions related to CensusAtSchool. Please say hi – we love hearing about how teachers are using CensusAtSchool with their classes.

August 11–15: Maths Week

This year includes a special event to promote Maths Week, with prizes up for grabs. Register and find out more at mathsweek.co.nz/forteachers

December 5: Statistics Teachers’ Day

This year’s Statistics Teachers’ Day will be held on Friday, 5th December at the University of Auckland – save the date!

It’s not too late to take part in CensusAtSchool

The survey is open all year!

Have a wonderful school holiday break, and we will be back next term with more.

Did you know that CensusAtSchool has resources for teaching and learning? Yes, but have you had a look recently?

The resources page has been updated with a new look and filters to help teachers find what they are looking for.

Search by year level:

By topic:

By type:

By event, author, year added, or te reo Māori.

2025 Questionnaire

If your students haven’t taken part yet, there’s still plenty of time. The survey is open all term and fits easily into your programme. Students love discovering what their classmates think, and comparing their answers with students around the country. Take part here

Not long now until the school holidays and the NZAMT conference in Dunedin! Pip will be there flying the CensusAtSchool flag. Even if you don’t get to go to a session, stop by and say hi – we always love hearing about how teachers are using CensusAtSchool with their classes.

NZAMT Sessions featuring CensusAtSchool

CensusAtSchool new resources | Y0-8 (Workshop session 1)

CensusAtSchool is constantly evolving, developing, and updating material to keep them relevant to the New Zealand curriculum. In the last 18 months, Pip has worked with primary and intermediate teachers to get a collection of new resources targeted at years 0-8. Bring a laptop and come prepared to engage in statistical enquiry.

CensusAtSchool: a wealth of teaching and learning resources and experiences | All year levels (Workshop session 6)

Explore the CensusAtSchool website and discover the full range of resources, data, and resources for classroom use. Bring a computer, and you will get to do some data analysis with the current CensusAtSchool database.

Tūturu Health Attitudes | Y9-11 (Workshop session 5)

This workshop explores new CensusAtSchool resources on gaming, developed with Tūturu, for use in stats, health, and social studies. Try out activities and consider how to apply them in your classrooms.

Haven’t taken part yet? Still plenty of time. The survey is open all year!

Garden Bird Survey: 28 June – 6 July

A great one-hour citizen science activity for school or home. Resources and bird ID guides available at: gardenbirdsurvey.nz.

We’d love to hear what you and your students are discovering about the 2025 data! If you have made any data displays or summaries, or have interesting stories to share, please let us know.

Explore the 2025 data now!

You can also explore data from previous CensusAtSchool questionnaires all the way back to 2005.

2025 Questionnaire

If your students haven’t taken part yet, there’s still plenty of time. The survey is open all term and fits easily into your programme. Students love discovering what their classmates think, and comparing their answers with students around the country. Take part here

The data is in!

We’re excited to let you know that the full CensusAtSchool 2025 database is now available to explore. Thousands of students from across Aotearoa have already taken part — and their responses are ready for your class to investigate.

You can explore the full dataset here.
(Note: A few opinion questions will be added in the near future, but everything else is there now.)

If your students haven’t taken part yet, there’s still plenty of time. The survey is open all term and fits easily into your programme. Students love discovering what their classmates think, and comparing their answers with students around the country. Take part here

Teacher Resource

The Data Detective Poster

The data detective poster is available in:

• te reo Māori junior and senior versions
• English junior and senior versions
• Gagana Samoa 
• Lea Faka Tonga
• Kūki ‘Āirani Māori
• Vosa Vakaviti

The data detective poster is a resource for teachers to print and use in their classrooms.  It can also be used to support students in writing up their investigations.

For example: providing students with a one-pager that they can write their investigation up in, including the PPDAC cycle in the middle.

We hope Term 2 is off to a great start for you and your students. CensusAtSchool is now in full swing, with 9,793 students from 234 schools already taking part. We’ll reach 10,000 this week!

This is an ideal time to get involved. The survey is open all term and designed to fit easily into your programme. Students love discovering what their classmates think and comparing their answers with students across Aotearoa. Take part here

New Primary Teacher Resources: Probability

Share with junior teachers in your school.

Year 1 Lucky Dip 

Ākonga will take turns playing a chance-based game that incorporates key vocabulary while anticipating outcomes. This game is intended as a single lesson for Year 1 ākonga, but it can also serve as a warm-up before the ‘Human Slot Machine’ investigation in Year 3. Additionally, it can be used as an ongoing classroom activity to reinforce language and key vocabulary.

Year 3 Human Slot Machine 

Ākonga will take turns playing a chance-based game that incorporates key vocabulary while anticipating outcomes. This game is intended as two lessons for Year 3 ākonga. The first lesson involves the creation of a pictorial tree diagram, and the second lesson involves exploring visual representations of chance-based data.

We hope you had a great break and are ready to dive into Term 2.

This is a perfect time to get your students involved with CensusAtSchool, our practical statistical literacy activity. The survey stays open all term, so you can easily fit it into your schedule.

We’ve added some new questions this year based on student ideas:

• Do you have pets? What kinds?
• Have you ever broken a bone?
• What’s your favourite colour, food, sport, or video game?
• If you could take a holiday anywhere, where would it be?
• How are you feeling today? (Answer in one word.)
• What word do you think is trending right now?

These questions help your students collect and use real-world data, promoting curiosity and strengthening their data science abilities.

Here’s how to get started:

• Register your class (if you haven’t yet)
• Already registered? Get your teacher code
• Complete the survey with your class

For more information, check out our Teacher’s Guide and the detailed Behind the Questions resource.

Any questions? Just email hello@censusatschool.org.nz.

New Resource: All Blacks and Black Ferns data

The Black Ferns and All Blacks stats website has recently been refreshed: stats.allblacks.com. It’s worth a look—data can be filtered by Black Ferns or All Blacks, current or former players.

There’s also a spreadsheet with information about current Black Ferns players that might be handy if you’re planning classroom activities during the Women’s Rugby World Cup (22 August–27 September in England).

And don’t forget about the Stat Attack data cards—these are available in Weet-Bix packets, or you can print the latest set of data cards.

CensusAtSchool 2025 is in full swing, and the response so far has been fantastic! So far, 5,131 students from 144 schools across New Zealand have taken part. Let’s keep the momentum going!

What Teachers Are Saying

We’ve loved hearing your feedback! Here’s what two teachers had to say about running CensusAtSchool in their classroom:

“[They loved] that it was about THEMSELVES!”

“They enjoyed how interactive it was and how it was all really relevant data to them”

Do you have a story to share? We’d love to feature your insights in an upcoming newsletter. Let us know how your students are finding CensusAtSchool!

Encourage Participation

It’s not too late to take part! Whether you’ve already registered or are just getting started, the process is simple. Head over to www.censusatschool.org.nz/take and get your students involved.

New Insights & Data

Of the students participating:

• 71% reported having at least one pet in their household, with 25% reporting owning more than three.
• 45% reported having a dog, with 36% owning more than one.
• 44% reported having a cat, with 45% owning more than one.

New Teacher Resource

This week, we’re highlighting DataWISE, a tool that helps students develop critical thinking skills by guiding them through the evaluation of data-based claims.

WISE stands for:

• Worthy of attention – Is this claim important?
• Inspect the data – What does the evidence say?
• Sense check – Does this claim logically add up?
• Emotion – What emotional response does it trigger?

Thanks for being part of CensusAtSchool 2025. Let’s keep the numbers growing!