It’s not every day a Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopter lands on your school field, and then you get to shoot hoops alongside the local policeman, your teacher, and your mum. That’s exactly what happened for students at Richmond Primary, a small school in the heart of Maraenui, Napier, when a desire for teachers to connect with whānau following the COVID lockdowns, turned into a community-wide celebration.
The Covid-19 crisis has tested everyone involved in our education system. But for scores of new principals, the challenge has been particularly fraught.
AKO talks with three beginning principals in the Auckland region about how they have managed through a crisis, while still coming to terms with their new role.
AKO chats with Liam Rutherford, NZEI Te Riu Roa president, about what it’s been like for him working from home, how he’s looked after his own wellbeing and what he sees the future holding for our members.
A leai se gagana, ua leai se aganuu … A leai se aganuu ua po le nu‘u.
When you lose your language you lose your culture, and when there is no longer a living culture, darkness descends on the village.
– Samoan proverb
In a school with dozens of cultures and languages, equipping and empowering students to coach, guide and befriend their ESOL peers has huge benefits for all involved.
At Christchurch’s Ilam School, 12 children in Year 6 are appointed as Cultural Leaders.
Two student leaders of kapa haka at Kapanui School, Waikanae explain why they like it.
A new teacher gives some advice to others starting work in a new community.
Child of the mist, Tame Iti, says that “history has woven us together. We are the basket, the kete, that holds the future!”
From her tiny school on the appropriately named Forgotten Highway, Anna Fourie teaches students across the country, using the internet.
For nearly a decade, Kapanui School in Waikanae has been using kapa haka as a way of building community in and around the school – and the benefits have been extraordinary for both Māori and non-Māori students.