The School Kit Squad

United we teach.

Teaching can be a lonely business

Is there any other profession where you spend so much of your day with so many people but do your job alone? We see our teaching colleagues in the staffroom, we meet to discuss our planning but we don’t often get to teach with other teachers.

We always have a bunch of different kits on the go and when you register for one you're placed in a private space dedicated just to your kit. In there you’ll find your teacher support materials - professional readings, explainer videos, how to guides, cheat sheets and digital copies of everything you find in your hard copy kit. 

But you’ll also find every other teacher that has registered to teach that kit. They’ll be using the space at the same time you do and experiencing similar roadblocks, having similar questions and (we hope) sharing similar successes. In addition to that, you'll find our teacher champions ready to support with messaging, comments, support, articles and zoom calls.

It's every teacher, together, teaching the same kit, all at once.

And it’s a chance to address that professional loneliness. To share a teaching experience with hundreds, even thousands of classroom teachers who are creating the same powerful learning experience for their students as you are, right now with yours.

Haere mai ki te hono mai ki a mātau i to mātau haerenga.

We'd love you to join us.

 

Whose in this Squad? 

About 15,000 New Zealand classroom teachers. Squad members are curious beings, hugely passionate about the business of teaching, fascinated by how our students learn, we strive to be better teachers, we seek a space to share our experiences and successes. We’re mindful of the role our teaching plays in shaping how the next generation will respond to the challenges they face. 



What's in a School Kit ? 

At School Kit we make beautiful resources, made up of both physical and digital items, for NZ classrooms. Our kits result in powerful teaching and learning experiences for both teachers and their students.

Any NZ classroom teacher can register for our kits, which we’ll deliver directly to your classroom. Kits are free of charge to NZ teachers on the understanding that you provide your professional opinion of the teaching and learning that results within an agreed timeframe.

We learned early on in our 14 year history that we should never be afraid of making our kits unconventional, innovative or challenging. Over time we've kept our promise to our squad members (that's you) that our kits won't ever contain worksheets, colouring in sheets, word-finds or 'Design a [insert word here] competitions. Our kits are beautiful, well-designed, tactile things that create powerful learning experiences.

These kits are currently available  



The School Kit Manifesto 


Want to understand a bit more about who we are and what we believe before you join? We call this our manifesto. It's the rules we design by and the rules our community is based on. They're our thoughts on teaching and the art of being a teacher in 2024.



1. The teacher is the heart of the system. 

Teach to connect. Teach in your way. Find your magic. It is teachers (and not the technology we use) who are the designers of powerful learning experiences.  Think with your mind (forget the technology). Every kid in New Zealand deserves to have at least one teacher that changes their life. Be that teacher.

2. Everything can be a lesson. 

Find inspiration everywhere. Start by copying what you love. Copying is about reverse-engineering. We learn by copying. Then break it, flip it, stretch it, crack it and turn it inside out till it works better for you. Know our curriculum well enough to connect what you’ve designed with what needs to be taught. Add the tech last. The tech is just the tool, it’s the idea that matters.

3. Teachers are storytellers.

Story works every time. Search for the narrative, a way of telling that cements the learning in the hearts and minds of your students. Make everything connect. Become the type of storyteller that holds their students spellbound. Story works for any age of student. Story never fails.

4. Learn more than is required.

Be passionately curious. Be widely read. Watch films. Examine artworks. Be informed. Get your news from more than one source. Think. Learn to ask questions. Break your algorithm. Start conversations with strangers. Know more than you need to about the thing you’re teaching. Know yourself. Be self aware enough to realise the areas where you personally need to learn more. Do that. And be aware of always needing to be teachable. 

5. If you don’t share it, it isn’t teaching.

Do good work and share it with people. Find good people who will share the way they work with you. Make the thing that was missing for you in your teacher journey. Find a teacher you admire and talk to them about how they teach. Problem solve with others. Share your enthusiasm. Celebrate the efforts of your fellow teacher.

But what if I don't want to join your network? 

You might have used us when we didn't have this secure online community. Lots of people say they liked it better then. Sadly a bunch of unethical humans copied our stuff and presented it as their own - they even won awards for how clever they were…

Having this secure, teacher-only network means we now know exactly who has access to our resources - teachers like you. You'll have lifetime access to the space for as long as you work at a NZ school. We'd love you to give it a try - it's actually kind of cool.