Delivering Local Curriculum

In 2019 our Year 5/6 Team started a unit of learning based around Ngā Tuna Tāone, Urban Eels. Through this we developed a relationship with the City Council and began regularly working down at Te Waimōkihi, Centennial Stream, planting native plants to support the waterway and the fauna that live in it, a role we thankfully continue to this day.

Last year our kura began working on our conceptual curriculum, the first topic being "change". We looked at how the land, and our kura, has changed over the years. This learning morphed into spending some time learning toi whakairo, Māori carving, and the children created their own designs related to the school, our histories and our values, which they then carved. Mira chose instead to portray elements of the history of our school within the shape of a tuna, with the intention that it would be displayed either as a large mural along a wall, or sandblasted onto the concrete around the school.

Next year, her intention will be realised. Her design will be sandblasted in the space between the two new classroom blocks.

As I have been completing a number of Te Reo courses, and the assessments thereof require the creation of a Te Reo resource to be used in our kura...well, this is Mira's story. Te Kōrero o te Whāriki Tuna, the story of the [soon to be] eel mat.

See the complete slide presentation below in PDF form.