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NZC – Social Sciences Phase 1 (Years 0–3)

This page provides the draft Years 0–10 Social Sciences Learning Area. This is now available for wider feedback and familiarisation. The current Social Sciences curriculum remains in effect until 1 January 2027.

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About this resource

This page provides the draft Years 0–10 Social Sciences Learning Area. This is now available for wider feedback and familiarisation. The current Social Sciences curriculum remains in effect until 1 January 2027 and can be found here: The New Zealand Curriculum – Social Sciences.

Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō?
Whakatairangitia — rere ki uta, rere ki tai;
Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao,
Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

Nā, Meri Ngāroto, Te Aupōuri (1830s)

Remove the heart of the flax bush and where will the kōmako sing?
Proclaim it to the land, proclaim it to the sea;
Ask me, 'What is the greatest thing in the world?'
I will reply, 'It is people, people, people!'.

History

Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

New Zealand History

JOURNEYS TO NEW ZEALAND  

New Zealand: where we come from 

  • New Zealand hasn’t always had people living here, and everyone’s ancestors came from somewhere else. 
  • Māori are tangata whenua (first people) of this land and have pūrākau (stories) about their origins and arrival. 
  • Pūrākau are used to express Māori ancestral connections. 
  • People can feel a deep connection to the land where they live. Many of the names of towns, buildings, streets, and other places tell stories. Sometimes there is more than one story.  
  • Family journeys are part of history and help us understand how life and places change over time. 
  • General time markers are used to describe when events happened: a year is 365 days, a decade is 10 years, and a century is 100 years. Students should gain an appreciation of the timescale between these different journeys and learn to place events on a simple timeline. 

Families come from many places 

  • Māori ancestors were Polynesian voyagers and their families. 
  • Families from many places around the world over the last 175 years (e.g. Chinese miners arrived in the 1860s). 
  • There was a wave of migration over 100 years ago, with families coming mostly from Britain. 

SHIPS AND SEAFARERS TO NEW ZEALAND 

How people first learnt to float and sail 

  • Rafts and skin-covered boats and invention of simple woven-fibre sails. 

Polynesian voyaging and exploration  

  • The location of the Polynesian Triangle.  
  • Voyaging and canoes. 
  • Navigation using stars, ocean swells, bird flight patterns, and cloud shapes. 
  • Polynesian navigators’ discovery of what is now known as New Zealand c.1250–1300 CE. 
  • Kupe was a legendary Polynesian navigator, credited in pūrākau with discovering what is now known as New Zealand around 1,000 years ago.  

How European seafarers reached New Zealand and the Pacific 

  • Abel Tasman’s 1642 Dutch ships sighting and naming parts of what is now known as New Zealand. 
  • Abel Tasman (1603–1659) was the first European seafarer and explorer to sight and map parts of New Zealand in 1642. Abel Tasman National Park was named after Abel Tasman and was opened in 1942 (the 300th anniversary of his visit to the area).  
  • Captain James Cook’s Pacific voyages (1769–1779) mapping New Zealand’s coast and role of Tupaia. 
  • Captain James Cook (1728–1779) led European voyages across the Pacific from 1769 to 1779. He was the first European to map New Zealand’s coastline.  
  • Tupaia (1725–1770) was a Tahitian Polynesian navigator who guided and interpreted for Captain James Cook on his Pacific voyage in 1769. He helped Māori and the crew to understand each other’s culture and language when the crew arrived in New Zealand.  

Examples of ships and seafaring outside the New Zealand context  

  • For example, the Vikings’ voyages in longships to raid and trade.  

MĀORI SOCIETY (BEFORE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND)  

Describing time 

  • Time can be divided in centuries, and so timelines can show markers for each century (e.g. 1200, 1300). 

Arrival and migration 

  • Migration by peoples from East Polynesia around the late 13th century.  
  • Continued oceanic voyaging and settlement across South Polynesia.  
  • Changes over time: growth of population leading to internal migration and evidence of population slump from size of pā (forts). 

Homes and communities 

  • Structured tribal communities: hapū (subtribes), iwi (tribes), rangatira (chiefs), and ariki (paramount chiefs). 
  • Marae and central meeting houses anchoring rohe (regions). Fortified pā built on elevated terrain with terraces, ditches, palisades, and food storage pits. 
  • Changes over time: adaptation from tropical environment. Transition from loose family camps to structured tribal communities and increasing complexity in village layouts. 

Food and environment 

  • Kumara garden cultivation using specialised tools and soil management. 
  • Forest clearance and moa hunting (to extinction by c.1450) evidenced by charcoal layers and bone deposits. 
  • Seasonal seafood diet evidenced by shell middens, animal bones showing diet, and earth oven hāngī pits showing how people cooked together. 

For example, consider: 

  • why people left their old homes to come to New Zealand 
  • how journeys to New Zealand today differ from those in the past 
  • how the reasons for migration to New Zealand have changed over time

For example, consider: 

  • how seafaring has changed over time 
  • how Polynesian navigators found New Zealand c.1250–1300 CE 
  • what we can learn from oral traditions about Māori navigators 
  • the historical significance of different famous seafarers

For example, consider: 

  • how Māori society changed over time 
  • what the remains of pā (fortifications) can tell us about changes in Māori society over time  
  • what sources we can use to find out about Māori society and the reasons it is hard to reach definite conclusions

New Zealand History

PAST AND PRESENT 

Through exploring their family’s recent past, teach students that: 

  • life in the past was different from today, with unfamiliar aspects (e.g. toys, schools, family customs) 
  • time stretches beyond living memory, including the experiences of people who were alive before the child was born 
  • there are time-related words such as ‘today’, ‘yesterday’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘past’, ‘present’, ‘before’, ‘after’, and ‘long ago’ and how to use them when talking about events and routines 
  • history is made up of events that happened in a particular order. 

Through stories from or about the distant past in New Zealand and stories of great change-makers, teach students: 

  • to reinforce what they have learnt about the past from looking at family stories  
  • how some individuals from the past are remembered because they changed things, helped others, or did something first, and their stories are passed down in books, art, and memory 
  • for example, Jean Batten (1909–1982) made several record-breaking flights, including the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936 
  • that stories from the past can be true, imagined, or a mix of both. Learn to use the following terms: once upon a time, story, myth, legend, fact, remember, record.  
  • to retell the stories they have learnt. 

Teachers and students can discuss the events in the stories they have shared together. This can include: 

  • significance of events and people 
  • similarity and difference between events 
  • sources we have (or don’t have) for these events 
  • causes and consequences of events 
  • changes and continuities in events

Global History

STONE AGE PEOPLE AND HOW WE KNOW ABOUT THEM 

Describing time 

  • BC/AD and BCE/CE time markers and use of period labels. 
  • Prehistory as the time before people could write down stories or facts. 

The first humans 

  • Homo sapiens evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago. They used tools and fire and lived in groups. 
  • Travel on foot over thousands of years to Asia, Europe, Australia, and eventually the Americas. 

How we know about the Stone Age 

  • Absence of written records; classification as prehistory; role of archaeologists in making careful guesses from artefacts to understand daily life. 
  • Evidence of how people lived from tools, pottery and jewellery; cave art and carvings; fossil remains including bones and teeth; evidence from archaeological sites (e.g. Skara Brae). 

THE CIVILISATION OF ANCIENT EGYPT C.3100–30 BCE 

Describing time 

  • Historians count dates forwards from year 1 (AD or CE) and backwards for earlier times (BC or BCE), with no ‘year zero’. Millennium — 1,000 years. 

Where and when? 

  • Nile valley (modern Egypt and Sudan) c.3100–30 BCE. A ‘Bronze Age’ civilisation up to about 1200 BCE, when the ‘Iron Age’ began in Egypt. 

Ancient Egyptian power and rulers (government) 

  • Rule by a single pharaoh who had total power and was seen as a living god, high priest, and religious leader. Decided laws and set taxes.  
  • Construction of pyramids and temples; demonstrated the pharoah’s power as well as Egyptian engineering skills and belief in afterlife. 

Egyptian people and daily life (society) 

  • Social hierarchy: pharaoh, nobles and priests, skilled workers, farmers, and labourers and slaves. 
  • Daily occupations: farming, fishing, weaving, baking, stone carving, scribal work. Specialisation meant people traded skills and goods. Division of labour to allow complex projects: temples, pyramids, and tombs. 

Impact of the Nile on trade and farming  

  • Use of the Nile for trade. No evidence of a currency. 
  • Annual Nile flood and basin irrigation. Creation of reliable agricultural surpluses for towns.  

Egyptian writing and other inventions 

  • Hieroglyphs on papyrus, stone stelae and walls. Sacred script recorded laws, trade, religious texts, and royal achievements. 
  • Timekeeping: solar calendar (365 days), star clocks, water clocks. Practical engineering and advanced boat-building allowing river and Red Sea voyages over long distances. 
  • How far Ancient Egyptian society maintained continuity through time: kingdoms, art, pyramids, beliefs, and writing. 

For example, consider: 

  • how people lived in the Stone Age (e.g. hunting and gathering, fishing, taming animals, farming, building homes) 
  • how we know about the Stone Age and the limits of the sources we have available

For example, consider: 

  • what was historically significant about Ancient Egyptian civilisation 
  • how far Ancient Egyptian society maintained continuity through time 
  • what sources we can use to learn about Ancient Egypt and why it is sometimes difficult to be certain about how people lived in Ancient Egypt 
  • comparisons with Stone Age early farming communities, such as small villages, crops and animals, and use of simple tools

Civics and Society

Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

BELONGING AND COMMUNITY 

  • People belong to groups (e.g. family, school class, team, culture). 
  • There are simple expressions of belonging (e.g. greetings, symbols, uniforms, group activities). 
  • Groups sometimes have informal symbols (e.g. kiwi, silver fern, colour black) and formal symbols (e.g. New Zealand flag, national anthem, currency). 
  • The New Zealand flag (1902): 
    • the blue represents the sea and sky 
    • the stars symbolise the Southern Cross constellation, indicating New Zealand’s location in the South Pacific 
    • the Union Jack is in the top-left quarter. 
  • Each country has a flag with different colours and symbols 

GROUP RULES, ROUTINES, AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION 

  • Group roles (e.g. school principal), rules, and routines are important for organisation and to help people work well together. 
  • Building relationships is important to help people work well together. 
  • Cultural practices are often expressions of group belonging, which can be expressed through, for example, traditions, language, and everyday practices. 
  • New Zealand includes people from different cultural backgrounds. These cultures bring different traditions, languages, and ways of life. 
  • There are Māori social organisations, including whānau, hapū, and iwi. Social and cultural rules are applied through concepts of tikanga and kawa.

NEW ZEALAND DAYS OF COMMEMORATION  

  • Waitangi Day (6 February): New Zealand’s national day, commemorating the first signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi | the Treaty of Waitangi. Celebrations include ceremonies, speeches, and festivals. 
  • Anzac Day (25 April): A day of remembrance for those who have fought wars, with dawn services held across the country. 
  • King’s Birthday (first Monday of June): A public holiday to celebrate the reigning sovereign, with no major national events. 
  • Matariki (date varies in June/July): A public holiday celebrating the Māori lunar calendar, with a focus on Māori culture. 
  • Labour Day (fourth Monday of October): A commemoration of the struggle to achieve an eight-hour working day. First celebrated in 1890, the day became a public holiday in 1900. 
  • Regional public holidays in New Zealand are typically the anniversary day for a region, observed annually (e.g. Auckland Anniversary Day, Southland Anniversary Day). 

Other celebrated days 

  • New Zealand has a diverse population, leading to the celebration of many other significant days. These include: 
    • cultural and faith observances (e.g. Chinese New Year, Easter, Diwali, Mahayana New Year, Christmas, Ramadan) 
    • seasonal and unofficial events (e.g. Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Guy Fawkes Night, Halloween) 
    • fundraising and awareness days (e.g. Daffodil Day for cancer awareness, Pink Shirt Day against bullying). 

For example, consider: 

  • what symbols, greetings, and uniforms are used in New Zealand and how they represent different people, places, and groups. 
  • how being a part of a group shapes personal experiences and belonging 
  • how public displays communicate meaning behind national symbols  
  • identify the New Zealand flag

For example, consider: 

  • a range of cultural practices that groups use to express identity and belonging 
  • different ways people can lead within the community and promote opportunities for children’s leadership in the community 
  • the reasons for and fairness of rules and routines

For example, consider: 

  • how commemorations and celebrations contribute to a shared identity 
  • how different people celebrate commemoration days around the world, identifying similarities and differences

Geography

Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

LOCATION AT DIFFERENT SCALES 

Global and national location 

  • Global location of New Zealand. 
  • New Zealand’s two main islands are the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu). 
  • Stewart Island (Rakiura) is sometimes considered the third main island and is located south of the South Island. 

Landscape features 

  • Major physical features of New Zealand (Lake Taupō, Aoraki/Mt Cook, Waikato River, Mt Taranaki, Clutha River, Southern Alps, three main islands). 
  • Settlements provide people with somewhere to live as well as services such as shops, schools, doctors, and places of worship. 

Regional and local location 

  • Location of their own area in relation to nearby features (e.g. maunga, awa). 

Spatial tools and language 

  • Maps are drawn to display a vast array of things like the classroom, playground, finding treasure, and where to find New Zealand in the world. 
  • Maps use keys, symbols, and colours to recognise land and ocean features. 
  • Maps use the four main points of the compass (north, south, east, west), which are similar to instructions to go forwards, backwards, left, and right. 

SETTLEMENTS  

Types of settlements  

  • Settlements are places for living and accessing services such as shops, schools, marae, doctors, and places of worship.  
  • Rural settlements are small communities with limited services. 
  • Towns are larger urban areas where most needs are met locally. 
  • Cities are very large settlements with a wide range of services. 

Capital cities 

  • A capital city is the location of a central government. 
  • Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. 

Human activity at the coast 

  • Numerous coastal towns across New Zealand. 
  • Human features such as sailboats, fishing boats, ports, harbours, and tourists and industries such as fishing and tourism. 
  • Coastal landforms change through erosion and deposition, forming features like beaches and sand dunes. 
  • Coastal environments affect how settlements are developed and operate 

OCEANIA AND OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS 

Locations and environments 

  • Oceania is a region including New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the wider Pacific Islands. 
  • Diverse environments across Oceania, such as glaciers in New Zealand, deserts in central Australia, and tropical forests in Papua New Guinea. 
  • The sea is an important part of life for many people in Oceania. 
  • Surrounding seas and oceans (Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean/Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa). 
  • Names of continents and oceans. 

Indigenous cultures 

  • Cultural and geographic regions of the Pacific: Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. 
  • Distinct cultures of Indigenous peoples in New Zealand, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. 

Regional connections 

  • Exchange of people, goods, and ideas across Oceania. 

Coastline and physical features 

  • Coastline is the point where land meets the sea.  
  • Coastal physical features such as islands, coral reefs, beaches, headlands, bays, harbours, cliffs, and estuaries. 
  • New Zealand’s coastline is over 15,000 km, ranking as the 10th longest in the world. 

Coastal environments and wildlife 

  • Coastal habitats supporting birds and animals adapted to life near the sea. 
  • Pollution from plastic, sewage, and oil affecting ocean environments. 
  • Coastal and ocean environments differ across Oceania. 

Māori connections to the coast 

  • Te moana is a place of cultural identity for Māori. 
  • Role of Māori as kaitiaki (guardians) of the sea and mātaitai (seafood resources). 
  • Kaitiakitanga as a guiding concept for coastal protection. 
  • using a map or globe to find New Zealand 
  • using simple keys, symbols, or colours to recognise land and ocean features 
  • using simple symbols and keys to create simple maps 
  • using simple maps of the immediate surroundings to identify features of their school and playground and talk about why they are important 
  • providing own location relative to other nearby features
  • communicating where their home is and showing the location and route in relation to their school or a significant place in their community 
  • interpreting maps to identify simple services in settlements of different sizes 
  • interpreting aerial photographs to identify simple characteristics of different settlements 
  • using data from a map or in person on the services available in the local area 
  • locating nearby islands and bodies of water that surround New Zealand on a map 
  • locating New Zealand on a map in relation to other countries 
  • using a map to locate capital cities around the world
  • identifying the seas and oceans around New Zealand 
  • interpreting maps of the Oceania region to identify countries and ecosystems 
  • communicating ideas about the diverse cultures of people in Oceania 
  • using flow maps to communicate how goods are exchanged around Oceania  
  • identifying physical features in photographs and satellite images 
  • identifying human-made features in photographs and satellite images 
  • interpreting information on the causes of water pollution 
  • explaining how water pollution affects coastal habitats 
  • explaining how people use the coast in different ways

DESCRIBING PLACES  

Physical and human features 

  • Physical features can be described in geographical terms such as hills, mountains, rivers, streams, grassland, forests, beaches, glaciers, and lakes. 
  • Human features such as villages, towns, cities, offices, factories, farms, and marae. 
  • Urban areas are built-up places and rural areas are countryside locations.  

Perspectives on place 

  • Reasons people can feel a deep connection to the land where they live. 
  • Many of the names of geographical features, towns, buildings, streets, and places tell stories. Sometimes there is more than one story. 
  • Pūrākau are stories used to name geographic features and express Māori ancestral connections. 
  • Stories and other observations from people in students’ families and communities tell them about their local area, its history, and how people use it.  

Global variation in landscapes 

  • Differences in appearance of places around the world, such as deserts and tropical rainforests, similar to temperate rainforests in New Zealand. 

WEATHER FEATURES AND LOCAL WEATHER HAZARDS 

Weather conditions 

  • Weather words such as ‘sun’, ‘cloud’, ‘rain’, ‘hail’, ‘sleet’, ‘snow’, ‘hot’, and ‘cold’. 
  • Seasonal changes in temperature and sunlight during the year. 
  • Names of seasons and typical weather patterns. 

Weather variation 

  • Differences in weather across New Zealand.  
  • Colder temperatures at higher altitudes such as mountain tops.  
  • Variation in rainfall between different places.  

Weather processes 

  • Movement of rainwater across land or into the ground. 
  • Heavy rainfall causing surface runoff and river overflow. 
  • Flooding can occur due to water exceeding riverbanks. 

Weather hazards 

  • Floods cause damage to homes, businesses, and farms. 
  • Snow and ice create slippery surfaces and driving risks. 
  • Hot weather causes sunburn and heat stroke. 
  • Personal planning for travel and clothing choices. 
  • Organisational planning using flood barriers and road grit. 

FACTORS AFFECTING CLIMATE  

Latitude and climate zones 

  • Lines of latitude are horizontal lines measuring distance from the equator. 
  • The equator is the dividing line between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. 

Local climate factors 

  • Height above sea level and distance from the ocean are factors affecting temperature. 
  • Seasonal changes are caused by the tilt of the Southern Hemisphere towards the sun in December and away in June (reversed seasons in the Northern Hemisphere). 

Types of rainfall 

  • Convection rainfall from rising warm air and condensation during hot conditions. 
  • Frontal rainfall from warm, moist air meeting cold air and rising. 
  • Relief rainfall from moist air rising over mountains and cooling. 
  • using simple geographical terms to describe the local landscape 
  • collecting observations of the local area’s geography 
  • communicating ideas about: 
    • the landscapes of places across New Zealand (e.g. Southern Alps, temperate rainforests, the coastline) 
    • how places are similar and different 
    • locations that contrast with New Zealand (e.g. the Australian Outback, tropical forests of South Asia) 
  • communicating ideas about how weather changes throughout the year 
  • interpreting weather symbols
  • using lines of longitude and latitude to locate places on a map 
  • collecting data on the amount of rainfall and temperature in the local area 
  • drawing diagrams to show the different causes of precipitation 
  • explaining how seasons change 
  • explaining the patterns of rainfall in New Zealand 
  • recording rainfall data in a bar graph, with correct geographic conventions (title, labels, plotting of data) 
  • recording temperature data in line graphs

Economic Activity

Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

During Year 1

During Year 2

During Year 3

  • New Zealand coins and notes have different monetary values. 
  • Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) is represented on the five-dollar note. He was a celebrated mountaineer and explorer from New Zealand. In 1953, he was the first person (with Tenzing Norgay) to summit Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. 
  • New Zealand coins and notes can be used to buy goods and services. 
  • New Zealand coins and notes can be ordered and grouped to reach a certain monetary value. 
  • Money is limited, and people make decisions about what they spend money on. 
  • People and groups have needs and wants: 
    • Needs are essential for survival (e.g. food, shelter). 
    • Wants are desires that can change over time and differ between people (e.g. entertainment). 
  • New Zealand currency is a decimal system of dollars made up of 100 cents. 
  • Buying something often involves calculating the money required for a purchase and the seller calculating the change required (this involves addition and subtraction). 
  • To help meet their own and others’ needs and wants, people can: 
    • exchange what they have (e.g. swapping fairly)
    • exchange using money (e.g. purchasing groceries, paying rent or mortgage). 
  • Sorting and identifying the monetary value of denominations of currency (coins and notes) in New Zealand 
  • Combining notes and coins to specified monetary values that could be used to purchase goods and services (e.g. ice cream) 
  • Identifying examples of personally relevant needs and wants 
  • Representing monetary values of mixed dollars and cents without using decimal notation (e.g. $2 and 50 cents) 
  • Using addition and subtraction to group notes and coins to purchase a good and make change to give back to the buyer (e.g. setting up a pretend shop in the classroom where students group money to make a purchase and the seller makes change from that money) 
  • Making a simple decision about money and communicating the outcome of this simple financial decision (e.g. role-playing a simple exchange to meet a need or want for both people in the exchange) 

Links to Social Sciences supports and resources:

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