Te Rito Toi helps teachers work with children when they first return to school following major traumatic or life changing events. It does that by providing research informed practical classroom activities and lesson plans to help children better understand their changed world and to begin to see themselves as being part of the promise of new and better futures. Te Rito Toi seeks to imbue the return to school with the joy, possibility and beauty of the arts to re-engage students with the wonder of learning. Te Rito Toi is based on understanding that the arts are uniquely placed to lead a return to productive learning when schools reopen.

At the heart of Te Rito Toi is the understanding that schools must not just prepare students for the future but also help them make sense of the present. After disasters and crises, schools must as a first priority help learners safely explore the changed world in which they live. The stories, concerns and questions they have must be addressed in classrooms. Teachers must lead  learners to engage with possibility, to reimagine a better world. Based on international research that confirms the central role of the arts in meaning making and the renewing of hope, Te Rito Toi positions the arts at the centre of children’s return to schooling after disaster.

Chartwell is proud to be a financial supporter of Te Rito Toi alongside The University of Auckland Faculty of Education and Social Work, The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, and The Creative Thinking Project.