Teachers at Carlton School, and other schools, may like to tell their students about the flag of Te Kooti, the Māori land activist. Nowadays his flag is not far from their school, in the bowels of the Whanganui District Museum, and on his flag is a triple basket-star design, similar to the triple star design on the Kingite flags of the same era.
These triple stars represented three "baskets" of knowledge poetically brought down from the stars by Tane: Te Kete Aronui, containing the knowledge of our senses, Te Kete Tauri, providing our understanding of the concepts that lie beyond our sensory experiences, and Te Kete Tuatea, giving us our connections with one another and with the past, so that we all live in unity; in other words, everything today's students learn about practical daily living, our science, cultural treasures and civilisation.
Irishman Thomas Bracken wrote our anthem in the era when both his Irish compatriots and Te Kooti were fighting to protect their traditional lands and cultures from total destruction by English capitalists, and his line "Guard Pacific's triple star from the shafts of strife and war" was a call to protect our lands and waters, our technical knowledge, our cultural heritage and our national unity.
The teachers could also point out that "God of Nations" is not necessarily the Christian God, but an anthropomorphism, a poetic figure of speech for the spirit of mutual support that we all give to each other to ensure the survival of our nation and civilisation.
Also the kids need to know that way Aotearoa is pronounced in the song, "Eh Oh Tay Ah Row Oh Ah," is not how it pronounced in everyday speech.
Finally, may I suggest that the song be sung sparingly, as at the Olympic Games, to honour a special accomplishment by some of the students. At other school assemblies alternative stirring Kiwi songs could be used, Pokarekare Ana, Don't Dream It's Over, Nature, etc.