Background - Tō tātou haerenga

The vision for raukura Māori (Māori graduates) in this strategy reflects the hopes and aspirations of current Māori students, whānau and staff at WGC. It encapsulates the thoughts of many expressed over the last year via surveys and whānau hui. It is a destination to pursue.

The goals provide some major markers along the way. For example, we will know we are getting closer to achieving the vision when we have initiatives in place to support the cultural identity of every Māori student at WGC.

The school’s values provide us with wisdom. Each one of them contains a wealth of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) to guide our behaviour and keep us grounded on the way. They also place this plan in the wider context of the College as a whole.

This Māori Achievement Strategy provides an overarching framework for the next three years.

We have also decided to align the key actions for the Māori Achievement Strategy with the strategic areas of focus for Te Kāhui Ako o Te Whanganui a-Tara. During our hui, it became apparent that the vision and goals for the Māori Achievement Strategy align closely with the strategic areas of focus for Te Kāhui Ako o Te Whanganui a-Tara which are:

Wellbeing: Increase the percentage of students who report positively against the wellbeing indicators of te whare tapawhā

Embrace language, culture and identity: All students enjoy and achieve education success that embraces languages, culture and identities

Student Agency: Most students are agents of their own learning who can confidently express what, why and how they are learning

In the process of developing this strategy, a wide range of ideas and initiatives have been suggested. Rather than commit to a three year plan of action, we have decided to prioritise only a few actions every year and review them annually. Inevitably there will be some initiatives that need longer than a year to embed so there is flexibility in this approach. We have grouped the priorities under the three areas of wellbeing, cultural responsiveness and student agency.

It must be remembered that these priorities are in addition to initiatives that are already in place to support tauira Māori at WGC (See Appendix 1).

Note: When we refer to “whānau” in this strategy and plan we are referring to the parents, caregivers and/or group that supports a student at home. This may include grand-parents, step-parents and people who may or not be related to the student but are part of the support network at home

Te Rautaki Hikitia 2024-2026 Māori Achievement Strategy