Learning through relationship
Our relationship with Te Whānau a Tauwhao is an important part of how our kura | school continues to grow its understanding of tikanga | customs, te reo Māori | Māori language, mātauranga Māori | Māori knowledge and place.
Through this relationship, tamariki | children have opportunities to learn more about the whenua | land and moana | ocean around them, the stories connected to this rohe | area and the knowledge held by the people who belong to it.
Ōtawhiwhi Marae | Meeting Place
Ōtawhiwhi Marae is an important place of connection and learning for our tamariki | children.
As children move through the kura | school, their experiences there deepen. They learn tikanga | customs, listen to kōrero | stories and come to understand significant places through the knowledge of the people connected to them.
Tūhua | Mayor Island
Tūhua | Mayor Island is more than a destination for our Year 6 graduation experience
Kaumātua | elders of Te Whānau a Tauwhao have shared with our kura | school the significance of Tūhua | Mayor Island and its enduring connection within local whakapapa | genealogy. That connection is carried into our kura | school too, through our visual identity and a piece of tūhua | obsidian from the island gifted to our tamariki | children in 2021.
Taonga | Our Treasures
Our kura | school is privileged to care for taonga | treasures, stories and knowledge that have been shared with us for learning. Some have been gifted by whānau | families and hapū | our local Māori community, while others connect us with significant people, places and histories.
Alongside physical taonga | treasures, pepeha | introductions of identity and connection, waiata | songs, karakia | prayers, pūrākau | traditional stories and whakataukī | proverbs carry knowledge that can be shared, learned and passed on through generations of tamariki | children. The existing material very clearly supports these as important parts of the school’s taonga and learning.