Getting started
Our Getting Started kete is to help principals, school boards, teachers and kaimahi get set up and ready to start using Te Rito in your kura or school. Choose from a range of resources to get Te Rito up and running.
Videos
See our short videos on how Te Rito works.
[Background music]
[Text on screen: Te Rito for Educators]
[Ministry of Education logo on screen]
[Harakeke flax leaves unfold on screen as voiceover starts]
Te Rito is a secure, cloud-based platform connecting education systems with a unique learning record for every kura and school-enrolled student in New Zealand.
[Multiple systems appear on screen, all displaying different types of information and content]
Currently learning information is captured by schools and the Ministry in different ways using different systems.
[A young student walking on screen, panning out to show a series of coloured dots – representing data – following her]
And until now, there has been no way to easily consolidate it and ensure it travels safely with students as they move through their education journey.
Te Rito changes that. It brings it all together into one record, for access by those involved in a student’s learning.
An up-to-date digital record that follows a student throughout their education is what Te Rito is all about.
[The scene zooms into one of the dots, then back out again to show the student standing on a map of inter-connected schools, with another student standing next to one surrounded by their own coloured dots]
When students move between kura and schools, their record transfers with them for other connected kura and schools to access.
[The first student jumps from one school to the next, and her dots follow her]
Over time, as each record builds with valuable learning information, you’ll see a complete, reliable, up-to-date profile that includes what makes each student unique, their strengths, and what they need to achieve.
[The scene zooms in and out again, to show a larger group of students, all with their own dots, specific to them, connected to and following them]
[One student is spinning a basketball as others in the group mix and chat]
Te Rito is a rich source of information that you, with just a few mouse clicks, can use to focus your planning, teaching and learning to support your students.
[The scene focuses on one of the students, with his coloured dots spinning, changing size and forming patterns]
You can also use Te Rito’s data and dashboards to understand data-driven insights for your kura or school, or across others in your community. They also make it easier for kura and school leaders to present data to their boards.
[The scene changes to another student, with her coloured dots also spinning, changing size and forming patterns]
[The scene pans out to show a school, then zooms through an office window, where a principal or teacher is at a desk working on a computer. The scene keeps zooming in until you can see what’s on their screen]
[A calendar of school terms is shown, which transitions to a visual of one school, then multiple schools]
With that understanding you can better plan and collaborate to support your students – whether they arrive at the beginning of term, or part-way through the school year, or attend just your school, or multiple schools.
[Harakeke flax leaves unfold on screen]
Here’s how it works.
[The scene pans back out from the office scene to show a sign up button]
[Multiple coloured dots are shown above the school streaming upwards into a cloud]
Your kura or school’s tumuaki or principal signs up to Te Rito, and your SMS is connected so your data flows into the platform.
[The coloured dots are shown moving to the right, out of the cloud]
Every 24 hours, Te Rito is updated with your SMS data plus data from other systems.
[The scene transitions back to the principal or teacher at their computer. The Te Rito log in screen is shown, followed by different parts of Te Rito’s dashboards]
Each day when you log in, you’ll see updated records for your students, and dashboards for your kura or school.
The home page shows information about your kura or school, and other schools you might be working with.
Access to dashboards is through the navigation menu. The dashboards are designed to help reduce information-gathering and improve analysing and reporting.
Your own kura or school's dashboards are more detailed, and allow you to drill down, while high level information – or aggregated data – is available for broader groups of schools.
As well as seeing information about your students, their whānau, and things that might affect their learning, you can access data-driven insights about what’s happening in your kura or school.
[A teacher is shown, concentrating on juggling multiple coloured dots. The scene zooms into each of the dots, then pans out to show the teacher catching all of them]
With all your student data in one place, there’s less time needed to find and sort information, especially at busy times of the year – enrolments, school and classroom planning and reporting, roll returns, transitions and exams.
[Padlock icons appear on each of the dots, which are cradled in the teacher’s arms]
And note, the information held in Te Rito can only be accessed and used by authorised users.
[The scene transitions to show the teacher in a classroom setting, taking a group of students through calculations on a whiteboard]
Te Rito is designed to give you back the time you need to focus on what matters most.
[The scene pans back out to show the student from the first scene walking along with the coloured dots following behind her – she gradually grows in size]
Imagine all the possibilities if information could follow students throughout their education. Te Rito is making it happen.
[Te Rito’s whakatauāki text on screen: Me tiaki te mana o te tamaiti me tōna whānau. Protect the mana of the child and their family]
Me tiaki te mana o te tamaiti me tōna whānau.
Protect the mana of the child and their family
[Te Rito wordmark, Ministry of Education and All of Government logos on screen]
See terito.govt.nz for details.
[Background music]
[Ministry of Education logo on screen]
[Harakeke flax leaves unfold on screen as voiceover starts]
[Text on screen: Te Rito – Enrolments and transitions made easy]
[A map of New Zealand appears with coloured dots popping up in different parts of the country]
Te Rito is a secure, cloud-based platform connecting SMSs and education systems with a unique learning record for every kura or school-enrolled student in New Zealand.
[Multiple systems appear on screen, all displaying different types of information and content. A single screen swipes up, displaying the Te Rito sign-in panel]
It brings together learning information into a single record – which kura and schools can access throughout a student’s education.
[A young student is shown. A row of coloured dots representing data appear above his head]
Every learner brings their own story – and the more we know about them, the better we can support them in their learning.
[The scene pans out to show the student standing on a map of inter-connected schools. He jumps from one school to the next with each of the dots following him. When he lands, the balls drop to the ground and roll in all directions away from him]
But when that story's spread across multiple places and a student’s changing schools, making sure it’s up to date and shared with care can be challenging.
[A screen of a single colour morphs into multiple coloured balls floating around randomly, which then fall into neatly ordered rows]
Access to Te Rito’s learning records in one place makes this – and managing enrolments, attendance and transitions – much easier.
[The ordered rows of dots are shown being sucked into the Te Rito home page on a computer screen. The home page beeps for every dot that’s added]
You don’t need to spend time finding, sorting or updating information because Te Rito does it for you.
[The scene pans out to show a person sitting at a computer, with Te Rito on the screen, tapping on the keyboard. The scene pans out to show three panels. The person is a school administrator. In the panel next to him, a teacher is pointing to a whiteboard. In the panel on the left, a principal sits at her desk]
As soon as the student enrols, their information is available to those directly involved in their learning.
[The coloured dots reappear, floating across the scene, above each of the characters’ heads]
Everyone can work together to provide what they need to achieve.
[The student from the beginning of the story reappears, walking across the screen from left to right. Each of the coloured dots above the principal, teacher and school administrator move to follow the student as he walks by]
So when Jamie arrives at his new school
[The scene pans out to show the three panels are windows of a school building, with the principal, teacher and school administrator working inside]
his tumuaki, principal, teachers and kaimahi are ready to go from day one.
[The scene zooms into the middle window where the teacher at the whiteboard is leading a lesson at the front of her class. On the desk next to her, a computer with Te Rito on the home screen is showing]
They’re already across how he likes to work, how he’s progressing
[The scene zooms into the whiteboard where ordered dots appear in rows]
and how his characteristics and strengths have changed over time.
[The scene zooms out again, to show a larger group of students, all with their own dots, specific to them, connected to and following them]
[One student is bouncing a basketball as others in the group mix and chat]
His principal gets a broader view of what’s happening in her school,
[The scene pans out to show a community scene, with a parent watching their child play on a swing, and older people chatting nearby]
and others they’re working with in the community.
[The scene transitions back to the school administrator at their computer. The Te Rito log in screen is shown, followed by different parts of Te Rito’s dashboards]
His school’s administrators can get some time back to work on other priorities.
[The scene slides to the right, back to the classroom where the teacher is at the front of the class pointing at the whiteboard]
So when students like Jamie arrive at your school, you can focus on what matters most –
[One of the students in the class – Jamie – puts his hand up]
so he can too.
[The scene pans out of the classroom, then the school, to show clouds]
Explore Te Rito. Make every connection count.
[Te Rito’s whakatauāki text on screen: Me tiaki te mana o te tamaiti me tōna whānau. Protect the mana of the child and their family]
Me tiaki te mana o te tamaiti me tōna whānau.
Protect the mana of the child and their family
[Te Rito wordmark, Ministry of Education and All of Government logos on screen]
See terito.govt.nz for details.
Quick guides
See our short guides for the Te Rito basics.
Setting up and using Te Rito
Connecting an SMS, activating accounts and managing access.
Connecting an SMS, activating accounts and managing access.
Student records and enrolments
What a complete record means for teaching and learning.
What a complete record means for teaching and learning.
Dashboards for schools
Understanding data-driven insights and measuring progress.
Understanding data-driven insights and measuring progress.
Checklists
To keep it simple, we’ve summarised some of the key considerations into checklists for the early stages of getting set up.
School Boards checklist
To get started, School Boards should consider:
- How information about your school’s use of Te Rito will be shared with staff, students and their parents and whānau
- Talking to other schools in your community about their use of Te Rito and how you might collaborate
- Working through each of the checks in the below managing privacy checklist
Principals checklist
To get started, principals should:
- Connect your SMS to Te Rito
This means your school’s data will be immediately available when you first log in.
Register at Connect my SMS to Te Rito
Once you've connected, follow the set-up instructions you will have received in the email confirming your SMS connection:
- Ensure staff details are entered correctly in your SMS (first names, last names and email addresses must be in your SMS for them to appear in Te Rito)
- Understand each of Te Rito’s roles and assign them in ESL to those in your team who will be using Te Rito
- See the Knowledge Base for help with Activating your Te Rito account
- Work through each of the checks in the below Managing Privacy checklist
Managing privacy checklist
To get started, principals should:
- Make sure your school’s privacy policy is up-to-date and everyone understands it
- Know who your school’s Privacy Officer is and what their responsibilities are
- Make sure roles and responsibilities for managing personal information are clear, and everyone knows how to identify a privacy breach
- Consider completing a Privacy Impact Assessment for your school – and get familiar with Te Rito’s one, its Privacy Statement and Terms of Use
- Let parents and whānau know Te Rito will be used in your school (and that Te Rito’s Data Kaitiakitanga Group oversees use of its information)
- Encourage those who use Te Rito to complete the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s learning module Privacy ABC for Schools
Self-help articles for once you're up and running
The Knowledge Base is where you'll find technical information, how-to guides and step-by-step instructions for users with commonly asked questions about Te Rito.
- Visit the Te Rito Knowledge Base
Other useful resources
There's lots of good guidance out there and we've listed some of them below for you to explore as you get set up and ready to start using Te Rito.
Guidance to help you with managing information
- Managing and protecting personal information / Legal and privacy – Ministry of Education
- Information, Privacy & Copyright – Te Whakarōputanga (formerly the NZ School Boards Association)
- Online safety tools and resources for schools and kura / Self-service kete – Netsafe
- Check your online security with the cyber assistant tool / Cyber assistant tool – Ministry of Education
- Choosing safer technologies for schools and kura / Safer Technologies for Schools (ST4S) – Ministry of Education
- Preparing and supporting new principals / A guide for aspiring and new principals – Education Review Office
Guidance to help you with managing privacy
- Privacy Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation
- Privacy responsibilities under the Privacy Act – Office of the Privacy Commissioner
- Privacy ABC for Schools – Office of the Privacy Commissioner
- Overview of schools’ privacy rights and responsibilities
- Applying the Privacy Act in practice
- Privacy Breach reporting – Office of the Privacy Commissioner
- How to reduce the risk of privacy breaches
- How to manage privacy breaches
- How to notify the Privacy Commissioner of serious privacy breaches
- Privacy statement generator – Office of the Privacy Commissioner