Welcome back to Term 4! We’d love for you to take part in CensusAtSchool this term with your classes. It’s not too late to register.

6-7!

Are you ready to hear 6-7 over and over again this term in your classroom? The viral numbers recently appeared in an NZ Herald article to explain it to those who are unfamiliar with the term.

As you know, we’ve been asking students which word they think is trending the most right now. Our tech developer, Stephen Merriman, has visualised the data and it’s a fun, quick watch showing the rise and fall of popular words this year. Watch how 6-7 takes over sigma! Show this one to your students.

Call for Speakers: Statistics Teachers’ Day 2025

Statistics Teachers’ Day is happening on Friday, 5 December at the University of Auckland. This year’s theme is “Probably, Possibly, Potentially: Technology for Teaching”. Registrations for the day will open in November.

We’re looking for speakers to share practical ideas and classroom experiences on using technology to teach statistics. If you’ve got something to contribute, we’d love to hear from you! Submit your idea!

Boost Your Career: 2026 Kalman Teacher Fellowships ✨

Develop your leadership in Mathematics and Statistics teaching! Five prestigious Kalman Teacher Fellowships, each valued at $6000, are available for Auckland-region primary, intermediate, and secondary teachers. Study postgraduate mathematics or statistics education courses at the University of Auckland and receive up to $2000 for personal use, plus up to $4000 towards your course fees. Apply before 5 pm, October 31. Learn more

New probability resources for Year 4 teachers and students

Developed by Jules Coup and Jody Hayes, these resources are now available on our website:

• The Great Coin Toss Challenge 
• Lucky Seven 
• Last One Standing

AMAonline CensusAtSchool sessions – links to resources:

• Teaching Probability in Years 1-3 – Jody Hayes and Jules Coup
• Tūturu – Gaming and Gambling resources incorporating CensusAtSchool data – Pip Arnold and Kim Goitleb

The Auckland Mathematical Association is running AMAonline on September 13 and two sessions will be using CensusAtSchool resources:

Teaching Probability in Years 1-3
Jody Hayes and Jules Coup
11:00–11:45am

Jules and Jody will share what effective planning, teaching, and learning for probability in Years 1-3 looks like. The workshop features lessons designed to create fun, engaging, and memorable mathematical moments in your classrooms, with a clear emphasis on building the language of probability.

Tūturu – Gaming and Gambling resources incorporating CensusAtSchool data
Pip Arnold and Kim Goitleb
12:00–12:45pm

This webinar explores new CensusAtSchool resources on gaming, developed with Tūturu, for use in statistics, health, and social studies. Participants will try out activities and consider how to apply them in their own classrooms.

Register for AMAonline – it’s free!

(Register even if you plan to watch later, and get the links to the recordings early.)

Kia ora koutou,

Year 9 summary investigations teaching sequence

Pip has worked with several Auckland high schools to develop a teaching sequence for summary investigations in Year 9. The sequence focuses on students collecting data about themselves. Links are made to the draft curriculum statement (March 2025) and will be updated when the new curriculum is released. A couple of the lessons (indicated by DRAFT) are not fully complete with vocabulary etc, but have sufficient information for teachers to use.

The lessons are based on students undertaking a statistical enquiry to find out about the class or year level.  Lessons 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 broadly follow a statistical enquiry using the PPDAC cycle, which is noted in each lesson.  Lessons 3, 4, 7, and 8 are concept development lessons, timed to allow for data collection and data entry across a year-level cohort.

This sequence might be a nice end-of-year unit, or, when planning for 2026, as a good start-of-the-year unit as we get to know our students.

Take part in CensusAtSchool this term!

The survey is open all year, and students love discovering what their classmates think. We’d love to have your students take part this term. 

• Take part: https://new.censusatschool.org.nz/take-part/ 
• Register: www.censusatschool.org.nz/take-part/register
• Find your code: www.censusatschool.org.nz/take-part/resend

Teacher resources

• • Teacher’s Guide
  • Behind the Questions

• Explore the whole data

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

Upcoming dates

September 15: Last day to submit a response regarding the proposed changes to NCEA. See education.govt.nz/consultation-ncea for more information.

December 5: Statistics Teachers’ Day at the University of Auckland

Ngā mihi,
Rachel, Anne & Pip
CensusAtSchool New Zealand

New resource: Data cards for CensusAtSchool 2025–2026

Fresh sets of data cards are now available for this year’s CensusAtSchool. These are designed with younger learners in mind (Years 1–3) and are ready for you to download and use from our website.

See the new data cards

In case you missed it:

The first two chapters of Probability | Tūponotanga – A guide for teaching probability (ages 5–18) are now available.

Created by the NZ Statistical Association Education Committee with support from NZSA and NZAMT, this free guide brings together classroom practice and research to support teaching probability across all year levels.

We’d love to hear your feedback.

Take part in CensusAtSchool this term!

• Take part
• Register
• Find your code

Teacher resources:

• Teacher’s Guide
• Behind the Questions
• Explore the Data

Upcoming dates

• September 15: Last day to submit a response regarding the proposed changes to NCEA. See education.govt.nz/consultation-ncea
• December 5: Statistics Teachers’ Day at the University of Auckland

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.