When our students visited Māngere mountain they learned about geology, Māori lifeways and explored the heritage gardens and visitor centre hosted by mana whenua - local people

In term three week eight, rooms eleven and thirteen had a school trip to Te Pane o Mataoho; Mangere Mountain. The trip was linked to our inquiry topic for term 4; sustainability. We had a guided walk up the maunga and participated in two workshops; Mahinga Māra; gardening, and Rongoā Māori; Māori medicines.

An educator of the education centre guided a walk up the maunga, educating us on the Auckland volcano field and the history of the mountain. Stopping from time to time, we admired and got educated about different landmarks’ history; why it was important to the villagers living there at the time. With breathtaking views, rooms eleven and thirteen reached the mountain's top with an elevation of 106m.

The first workshop room eleven participated in was Rongoā Māori; Māori Medicine. In this workshop, we explored Māori traditions associated with common medicinal plants and natural resources, how they were used for healing and medical purposes, and how to identify them. A couple of examples would be harakeke or flax which is used to soothe sunburns and the kawakawa leaf which can be brewed into tea, which is meant to ease digestive issues.

The second and final workshop we attended was Mahinga Māra; Gardening. Here we got educated on sub-tropical foods brought by Māori from the Pacific Islands; Such as kūmara and yams. We explored the ways Māori used to store their foods, grow their foods and how they were modified to suit the local temperature climate.

By Mila Pujol-Spencer from Room 11