Tēnā koutou pakeke mā,

Ko koe ki tēnā, ko ahau ki tēnei kīwai o te kete; You at that handle and I at this handle of the basket

The whakatauki (proverb) above is used in a lot of the documentation around our kāhui ako - the group of ten local schools who work in collaboration together to create better outcomes for our ākonga. This visual shows who we are as a kāhui and what we are working to achieve.

Principals and leaders from our ten schools met last week to spend the day with Kathe Tawhiwhirangi from Core Education to continue reviewing what we have done so far in our three years working as a kāhui, and identifying where we need to focus next. We have been working with Kathe and her team as a kāhui for several terms. One of the key areas Kathe is supporting us with is developing a system of continual reflection and review into our progress in different ways - reviewing as a group of leaders, as an overall kāhui, as individual schools, and as individual teachers.

We have a number of areas of progress that we are really pleased with as a kāhui group of schools. One key area of progress so far is the development of trust and collaboration happening across the group, especially with our leaders - principals, associate principals, and people in leadership roles across the kāhui. We are sharing and connecting more, asking more questions of each other, identifying the points of similarity between our different schools and beginning to work together to collaborate and share around these similarities. Another pleasing aspect of our growth is working together as a group of schools with Kura Ahurea, the Tenths Trust education programme that focuses on the local historic narratives of Te Whanganui-a-Tara from a Te Ātiawa perspective.

As part of our review process, we also look to identify where we want to improve and continue to develop. We still have a lot of work to do to bring our communities on the journey with us as a kāhui, and also to ensure that we work in genuine partnership with mana whenua and our Māori whānau to create equitable outcomes for all. The review process we are establishing will help us to identify key goals and work purposefully towards them, monitoring our progress as we go. One of the exciting new systems we are developing is around ‘Hubs of Interest’ - groups of people from different schools who are focused or passionate around a key area of learning. People working on similar areas of interest are coming together to form collaborative groups, where they can achieve more by harnessing the potential of the group. Some of these Hubs of Interest include a Pasifika Learners group, Trauma-Informed Practice, a Student Agency group, a group working together around Aotearoa New Zealand Histories, and a range of others. We have created a Kāhui Ako website, that explains our vision, introduces key people leading with the Kāhui, and space for staff to connect with Hubs of Interest and browse useful resources.

The potential impact of our ten schools working together to procedure better and more equitable outcomes for all students is really exciting, and we will keep you informed of the mahi the kāhui group of schools is doing. Our key focus is that we are better together, rather than working in our own separate silos. As a group of schools, we want to pool our resources, strengths, and knowledge to build a connected learning pathway from primary through to college. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Ngā manaakitanga, 

Urs Cunningham