A school story is most meaningful when the people who belong to it help shape it. For Holy Trinity, the process began with conversations about the school's history, its people, its Catholic faith and its connection to place. Through the Join the Dots hui, the school community shared the moments, memories and values that mattered to them. These became the foundation for Following the Footsteps. But the aim was never simply to record the school's history. Working alongside Holy Trinity, the project explored how the story could support a wider vision for teaching and learning. A Theory of Improvement helped connect this vision with opportunities to strengthen belonging, oral language, curriculum connections and students' understanding of their own identity. The teaching resources were developed with these purposes in mind, giving teachers ways to bring the story into Religious Education, inquiry, storytelling and other areas of learning. The result is a story that belongs to the school, and a set of resources that helps the school keep making something of it.

The illustrations for Following the Footsteps were carefully developed to reflect the landscape and history of the place Holy Trinity calls home. The pūkeko became a central character, its footsteps carrying the story through the wetlands and muddy ground of Takanini and Papakura. The mud itself became an important part of the storytelling, holding the footprints and memories of those who had travelled through, lived on and cared for the land before. This idea influenced the illustration style, with loose, oily textures and flowing forms reflecting the movement of the birds and the softness of the swampy landscape. The illustrations were also designed to be used beyond the pages of the book. Alongside the finished story, Holy Trinity received a collection of supporting teaching resources, including visual storytelling materials, curriculum connections and activities. These were made available as downloadable digital files, giving teachers easy access to the images and resources to revisit, adapt and bring into their learning programmes. The illustrations become more than something to look at. They become another way for students to explore, question and connect with their school's story.

At Holy Trinity, Following the Footsteps has become more than a way to remember the past. It has helped shape how the school approaches teaching and learning. Drawing on the whakataukī Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua, walking backwards into the future with our eyes fixed on the past, the school has woven the story through its curriculum, connecting its Catholic identity with the concepts of whakapapa, taonga, preservation and tūmanako (hope). These ideas give teachers and students a shared starting point for exploring what has been passed down, what their community values and what they have a responsibility to carry forward. Learning about taonga becomes an opportunity to consider what deserves protection, while tūmanako invites students to think about the future they hope to create. Through Religious Education, social sciences, oral language, science and creative inquiry, the story gives these concepts a real and familiar context. Students are not simply learning about the people who came before them. They are beginning to understand that they, too, have a place in the story, and something of their own to contribute.

From investigating pūkeko and their wetland habitats, to exploring navigation, mapping journeys, developing oral language and stepping into the shoes of historical figures, Following the Footsteps has opened up learning opportunities across the curriculum at Holy Trinity. Teachers use the story's illustrations to encourage questioning, describing, predicting and explaining through Accountable Talk, while the school's Living Museum gives students the opportunity to become storytellers themselves, interpreting historical events and sharing their learning with others. The story also provides a starting point for exploring whakapapa, taonga and personal connections to place, helping students understand how their own identities fit within the wider school community. Not every lesson needs to return to the story, but it is always there when it adds meaning. What began as a book has become a shared resource that teachers and students can draw from in different ways, across different subjects and throughout the school year.