Primary school head embraces te reo Ma¯ori

Every child at a Papakura primary school is now learning te reo Ma¯ ori in a bid by the school’s new principal to make teaching more relevant.

Heather Tanner, who took over last year at decile 1 Kelvin Road School where 64 per cent of students are Ma¯ ori, started by asking children, their parents, early childhood centres that feed into the school and other community groups about what they wanted in the school curriculum.

“They wanted their kids to read, write and be good at maths, and they wanted them to appreciate other cultures. They wanted to see their culture reflected in the curriculum,” she said.

“Transient behaviour is largely out of a child’s and the school’s control, but if we can apply new thinking to an old problem by making school a safe, inclusive, fun, relatable and a culturally diverse place where kids are well known, valued and cared for by their principal and teachers, we have more leverage where there is choice.” Tanner, who is of Nga¯ ti Maniapoto and A¯ tihaunui-aPapa¯ rangi (Whanganui) heritage, said teachers from the school’s bilingual unit were now teaching te reo Ma¯ ori to all students. “We are also doing it through po¯ whiri, so any time someone new comes we are doing a school-wide po¯ whiri,” she said.

“We are doing school-wide pepeha, where the children do some investigating about where they come from. Many of our kids are Nga¯ puhi, so I have connected with their local communities and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got some of your kids here and we want them to get on your roll.”’

Apart from Ma¯ ori children, 27 per cent of the school’s students are Pasifika, and Tanner is making efforts to engage them too. “All our children are going to be involved either in kapa haka or in a Samoan group, a Cook Islands group, a Niuean group or another group.”