NIS has four Pou (pillars) that hold up our kura and community. The Pou contain various different values that we uphold. The names of the four Pou are Rangatahi for our purpose and our sense of capability, Ako for our responsibilities and our learning, Kaitiaki for our sense of caring for our environment and helping others, Whanaungatanga meaning relationship and our sense of whānau connections.

Room 16 has been working on a statement for each of the four values connected to the different Pou: Learning, Caring, Bravery and Confidence. Firstly, we split into four groups and each shared our own ideas and experiences about the different values e.g. For ‘brave’ one student mentioned how they tried a new sport at school they were nervous about . After, everyone was given a chance to walk around the room to share any additional ideas they would like to contribute. Once our ideas were all shared, each group created three draft statements for the values. Then the class voted for which statement best reflected each of the connecting Pou.

Here are the statements we came up with:

Learning – We will learn by trying new things, asking questions, accepting our mistakes and improving on them.

Brave – We will be an upstander not a bystander. We will come out of our comfort zones and help others.

Care – We will be thoughtful and respectful to others and our ecosystem.

Confidence – We will stand strong in our choices and face our fears.