This term we have been thinking about what it means to Belong. We talked about belonging to our family, our culture, our country, our family values, and belonging to Ko Taku Reo.

Belong to us means

B – Being together is so much fun
E – Enjoying different cultures and learning about them
L – Lucky to be with our friends
O – Our own cultures are fun to share with others
N – Never stop being you – your culture is important
G – Get to learn in a fun, safe, and exciting environment

So, when we thought about our culture, we decided to look at the map of the world and see where each of us was either born or our whānau have come from. Below shows that we are all from different parts of the world - right here in Aotearoa, Fiji, India, and the Philippines. As you can see we're all from different parts of the world. We then drew our country flags and talked about how these were different, yet we felt connected to each other.

We then talked about connecting to and belonging to another amazing part of our culture, Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education.

When I asked the question "how do you feel about belonging to Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education?"

They told me all these amazing words:

• Proud
• Smiley
• Brave
• Amazing
• Happy
• Lucky
• Excited

We looked further into ‘belonging’ and we know how much we are connected and belong to our partner school, (Wharenui School). They are so amazing at including us in different things.

They make us feel so welcome and always ask us if we want to be part of an event or activity that they are doing with their tamariki.

Things like swimming at the Wharenui Pool, Sports Canterbury skills activities, being part of the Wharenui School library, working together as one and going to Technology with the Year 8 students.  

We all agree that this whakatauki says….
That it is not ‘me’ by myself that I succeed and belong but with the help of others alongside my friends and whānau.