Makayla Hewlett shares some of the strategies being implemented at CCC to increase cultural responsiveness.

Tēnā koutou katoa. Ko Ngāi Tahu te iwi, ko Kāti Huirapa te hapū. Ko Makayla Hewlett tōku ingoa. I have the privilege of holding an in-school position of Te Māra Akoranga Katorika, at Catholic Cathedral College. The role is concerned increase the cultural responsiveness of our kura.

As a part of my role, I work alongside Head of Departments and classroom teachers to ensure their units of work are reflective of Te Ao Māori. For example, I assisted the Social Sciences department with their planning for 2019. Together we derived Māori names for each topic, as well as key Māori words that could be integrated. Just this week, I met with one of the Science teachers to come up with a way to incorporate Māridom into a unit on the hydrologic cycle. We worked together to bring elements of the Ranginui and Papatūānuku kōrero in to this topic.

I work alongside our school Chaplain, Antje Duda, to ensure that there is a cultural element evident within the Special Character of our kura. We incorporate Māori karakia and waiata in to our assemblies and masses, and use kupu Māori within English prayers to increase normalisation of Te Reo Māori. In mass, during the consecration I have assisted in incorporating a karanga to acknowledge the body and blood of Christ. I have incorporated school-wide practices that mean all of our students and staff are able to say ‘let us pray’ and do the sign of the cross in Te Reo Māori.

Another element of my role is facilitating the interviewing of our Māori students to get student voice. This is a practice we have undertaken for a number of years. The data gifted to us by the young people is invaluable. It has informed many of the initiatives that we have implemented for our ākonga Māori at Catholic Cathedral College.

Ngā mihi maioha

Makayla Hewlett is a within school leader from Catholic Cathedral College