Over the past 10 years Te Reo Māori has not really moved past level one in mainstream schools - we have been stuck on the treadmill according to a report published by ERO called Te Tāmata Huaroa. Most schools want to do more but lack the resources and expertise to step off of the treadmill and move forward with Te Reo Māori. Tui Halatokoua and Nic Mason signed up for Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori through Ata Rawea in 2022 to start their Te Reo Journey. Ata Rawea uses the learning method using Cuisenaire rods to model sentence structure within a total immersion environment. Tui (Principal of Awapuni) took his teaching staff along the journey with him. Nic (Principal of Winchester School) has encouraged his teaching staff to sign up this year. It has been an important way to revive this precious taonga of Aotearoa. Our focus in this kaupapa is to provide opportunities for the children to learn the language of their ancestors. As with all change, it's always very hard at the beginning. However, we are working hard to build on developed a strategy to make the learning of Māori language easier for our school and our communities. Some of the ways we revitalized the Māori language in our school were: Developing strategic goals for Māori language. Encouraging our teachers to develop their own fluency in Māori language Encouraging the children to use Māori language in their conversations at all times Our aim is to encourage our hapori (communities) to embrace the language of their ancestors, and to enhance the role of the Māori language in the wider world.
Principal / Nominated contact: Nick Mason
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