“Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.” “Let us keep close together, not far apart.”

Ko Gun te maunga. Ko Trent te awa.

I mai oku tupuna Western Europe, Great Britain me Ireland

Ko Ingarihi te Hapu,

No Ingarangi ahau,

Ko Ann Hough tōku ingoa.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa

Mauri ora!

My interest and background in te reo and tikanga Māori has been with me for a long, long time. My earliest introduction to Māori culture came when I was growing up in Christchurch. As a tradesman, my father was involved in the Māori Apprenticeship Scheme and over the years Dad’s apprentices became like part of our family, sharing many of their traditions with us.

My husband Ted, and our three children, are of Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama heritage. Ted is a Chatham Islander and for 18 years we lived and brought up our children at Wharekauri/Rekohu where the culture is a mix of Moriori/Māori and a melting pot of ethnicities from the early sealers/whalers and farming pioneers. My late father-in-law, Sunday Wharetutaki Hough was the kaumatua of the island until his death and my late mother in law, although of Danish heritage, was a patron of the Kohanga Reo. Myself, I was born in Staffordshire, England. During my time on the Chathams I was involved in Kohanga Reo, worked as secretary for Tchakat Henu Moriori Association and assisted the Marae Committee during Hui. I spent many hours as kaimahi at Marae functions and became immersed in the unique island culture and tikanga Māori. It is now an important element of who I am.

Ted and I moved back to New Zealand in December 2001. I completed my BTchLn in 2002 and began teaching at Roncalli College in 2003. In 2005 I briefly moved to St Patrick’s Primary School in Waimate, then returned to Roncalli College in 2009 and have stayed. During my teaching career I have completed additional study including the Certificate in SPELD in 2004, Certificate in Mauri Ora and Te Waharoa in 2012, Certificate in Tikanga Māori (L3) in 2013, Te Ara Reo Māori (L1&2) in 2014 and Te Ara Reo Māori (L3&4) in 2015. I hope one day to become fluent in conversational Te Reo. At Roncalli I have taught across a range of subject areas over the years but am currently teaching Religious Education, Food and Hospitality, facilitating the SPEC Programme and am also the SENCO. As a teacher, I have two real passions - one is advocating for students who require additional support in their learning. The other is to do whatever I can to help the bicultural nature of New Zealand become more widely accepted and practised.

In 2013, ERO identified communication with Maori stakeholders and addressing Māori achievement as a next step in the development of the College. As a result of this we held a Hui for the parents of our Māori students, to enable us to gain feedback as to how Roncalli College was addressing their needs. At the time Irai Weepu, the Kaitoko Matauranga / representative of Ngai Tahu, assisted us with the hui, and Andrew Jones and I were able to put together the Roncalli College Māori Achievement vision. In 2016, as part of my responsibilities for the RE Department I worked closely with RE Advisor Jeremy Cumming to develop a Cultural Responsiveness Vision.

One of the current challenges ahead of Roncalli College is to strengthen our commitment to honouring the Treaty of Waitangi. I feel honoured to have now officially been offered the position of TIC Māori, enabling me to be involved in this. As TIC part of my role will be working closely with Karen and the Kahui Ako as we work together to strengthen connections with our Māori communities and develop a pathway for authentic Māori Community Consultation. To assist us in this journey we have once again invited Irai Weepu to guide us through the process and develop the way we consult with our Māori community. Whaea Kathy Campbell will also be available to support and link inclusivity of all of our Kahui Ako wide Māori community.

The journey has already begun. Irai has met with the Kahui Ako principals and leadership teams to discuss whanau consultation at a strategic level and the Kahui Ako now have a shared understanding of the philosophy behind authentic community consultation, that meets our obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Last week we held a second meeting where Irai outlined the planning logistics for holding a whanau hui. This was followed by the Stewardship Groups from each Kahui Ako school, workshopping their individual Whanau Hui, to be held during Term 3. The Roncalli Stewardship Group have set our date for Thursday 13 September, 6 - 6.30pm. Watch this space in our school newsletters for more details in the near future.

Over the next two years I look forward to working with the Roncalli and Kahui Ako communities to promote and encourage...

Whakamana:

Empowering learners to reach their highest potential

Whanaungatanga:

Positive and collaborative relationships with learners, whānau, colleagues and the wider community

Manaakitanga:

Creating a welcoming, caring environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity

Pono:

Actions that are fair, honest, ethical and just

As a treaty partner it is important that the interests of Māori are represented inside and outside the classroom for all students, staff, parents/caregivers/ wider community.

Kua takoto te manuka

The leaves of the manuka tree have been laid down

This proverb is used when being challenged, or you have a challenge ahead of you.