NZ English report comments by strand

The two strands of NZC English

NZC English is organised into two strands, and both should be reflected across a year of reporting:

• Listening, Reading and Viewing — decoding, fluency, comprehension, and making meaning from spoken, written and visual texts.
• Speaking, Writing and Presenting — communicating ideas accurately and effectively for different audiences and purposes.

One comment or two?

• Many primary schools report English as one comment covering both strands; intermediate and secondary schools more often separate them.
• If your template gives one field, make sure reading evidence and writing evidence each get a sentence — not just the strand you know best.

Listening, Reading and Viewing — evidence phrases by level

• Level 1: recognises letter sounds and common words; retells the main events of a story; joins in shared reading with confidence.
• Level 2: reads familiar texts fluently; finds information in the text to answer questions; starts making simple inferences.
• Level 3: summarises main ideas across fiction and non-fiction; supports opinions with evidence from the text; identifies the author’s purpose.
• Level 4: analyses how language and structure create effects; compares texts; evaluates the reliability of information.

Listening, Reading and Viewing — example comments

Examples

• Towards the expected level (Level 1): “Sam is developing early reading skills. He recognises most letter sounds and uses pictures to help work out unfamiliar words. He enjoys listening to stories and talks about what might happen next. Sam is building confidence towards the expected NZC level in reading. Reading together at home each evening will keep building his word knowledge and love of stories.”
• At the expected level (Level 2): “Amaia is working at the expected NZC level in reading. She reads aloud with good fluency, self-corrects when meaning breaks down, and answers questions by pointing to evidence in the text. She is starting to explain why characters make the choices they do. Next step: pausing to summarise each chapter so longer texts stay clear.”
• Above the expected level (Level 3): “Joshua is progressing above the expected NZC level in reading. He reads widely across genres, compares how different authors handle the same theme, and justifies his opinions with precise textual evidence. Next step: exploring bias and reliability in online information texts to deepen his critical reading.”

Speaking, Writing and Presenting — evidence phrases by level

• Level 1: writes simple sentences that convey a message; uses capital letters and full stops in short texts; shares news clearly with the class.
• Level 2: plans ideas before writing; groups related ideas; begins to vary sentence openings; presents to a small group with growing confidence.
• Level 3: organises writing into paragraphs; chooses vocabulary for audience and purpose; edits for accuracy with growing independence.
• Level 4: structures persuasive and informational texts effectively; controls complex sentences and punctuation; adapts voice and register for different audiences.

Speaking, Writing and Presenting — example comments

Examples

• At the expected level (Level 1): “Pip is working at the expected NZC level in writing. She hears and records the sounds in the words she writes, forms sentences that tell a complete idea, and uses capital letters and full stops most of the time. In our morning mihi she spoke clearly to the class. Next step: adding a describing word to each sentence to add detail.”
• At the expected level (Level 3): “Rawiri is working at the expected NZC level in writing. His reports group information into clear paragraphs, use topic-specific vocabulary, and are usually edited for spelling and punctuation without prompting. His speech about kaitiakitanga was well structured and held the audience’s attention. Next step: varying sentence length to build pace in his narrative writing.”
• Towards the expected level (Level 4): “Kayla is building confidence towards the expected NZC level in writing. Her ideas are creative and her vocabulary is strong, and with a writing frame she organises an argument into paragraphs. She is still developing independence planning and checking longer texts. Next step: using a planning template to draft her ideas before writing, and reading her work aloud to hear where sentences run on.”

Weaving in te reo Māori and cultural context

For many kaiako, English comments are a natural place to recognise a student’s identity and language journey — including progress in te reo Māori contexts that sit inside English programmes.

Examples

• “Hemi participates enthusiastically in te reo Māori sessions and shows respect for tikanga Māori. He enjoys learning new kupu and practising phrases with peers, and he retells pūrākau with vivid detail in English. To further develop his language skills, Hemi is encouraged to use te reo in everyday contexts and continue building vocabulary.”

Keep it genuine

• Reference te reo and tikanga the student actually experienced in your programme, not token phrases.
• Explain any te reo terms in the surrounding sentence so every whānau can follow the comment.