As a kura we recognise the significance and importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Every year as a staff we learn more about Te Tiriti and this ensures we can teach our tamariki what many of us were not taught in our own schooling.

As teachers we recognise Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a founding document of our nation. Signed in 1840 by leaders of hapū and the Crown, Te Tiriti o Waitangi affirmed Māori rights as tangata whenua and provided a place and a shape of governance for Pākehā in Aotearoa. Te Tiriti o Waitangi provided a basis for ongoing, peaceful power-sharing relationships between the first peoples and all others who would come in later years. Today Te Tiriti o Waitangi is seen as a commitment under which Māori and all other New Zealanders may live together in the spirit of honourable relationships, with the promise to take the best possible care of each other. This requires the injustices caused by colonisation to be addressed and all New Zealanders to engage in creating a positive future that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi. New Zealand is an increasingly multicultural nation, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi is inclusive of today’s new settlers. As with earlier immigrants, their ‘place to stand’ comes with an expectation that they will live here in a way that respects the commitments of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the position of Māori as tangata whenua. As teachers, we are committed to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi and we understand this has implications in all of our practice.

(Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, Our Code Our Standards, pg. 4)

In Term 1 this year we had a focus on investigating the driving question:

How can we as historians use the lessons from Te Tiriti o Waitangi to create a supportive learning environment at school?

 Some of the big ideas we focused on learning and understanding were:

 *Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand

* Colonisation and settlement have been central to Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories for the past 200 years.

As a result of their learning our tamariki know:

• That Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of Aotearoa.

• Why Te Tiriti o Waitangi was created.

• That there were many differences between the English and Te Reo Māori version of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

• What life was like for the tangata whenua before and after signing the treaty.

Some of the activities our tamariki participated in were:

* Retelling a story about Te Tiriti o Waitangi

* As a class creating a Aotearoa map to show the different places Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed.

*Collaboratively creating a visual timeline showing events surrounding Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

* Asking questions to find out more about the treaty and then using a range of resources as a class to help answer their questions.

* Creating a class treaty and Junior School treaty together to ensure we can learn and play as a group successfully. (Juniors)

*Creating a class treaty to identify the attitudes and values that motivated the people in the past and compare the with today when creating our own treaty.  (Seniors)

"Ka ora pea au i a koe, ka ora koe i a au."

If you are well, then I am well. 

The importance of this whakataukī (proverb) beautifully captures the heart of Te Tiriti o Waitangi – a commitment to unity and care between peoples, so that together, we can all thrive. “We have to work together as a nation, because when one of us is well, we all are. (Mike McRoberts)