Turanga City Trip - Team Kāpuka by Team Kāpuka

From the Principal's Desk

Paul IrvingOctober 27, 2020

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora, Hello, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Hola, Fakaalofa atu, As Salam Alaykom, こんにちは, Hallo, Hoy, હ લ ો, Hē leu, Mauri, न म त, Ola , Chum reap suor, Kumusta, Nihao, Xin chào.

Kia ora koutou

Condolences

Our condolences go to Nick Shimasaki and his wife Rosalie, as Rosalie’s Dad passed away suddenly in the weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with them both and their extended family.

Learning Outside the Classroom

There are a lot of school trips happening at the moment. Last week we had team Kāpuka go on a trip to the Margaret Mahy Playground and Tūranga (Christchurch Library) and this week we have Team Kahikatea going to the High Ropes Course and Team Pātītī going to the Museum. Our Kapa haka group is also performing at the Cultural Festival at Horncastle Arena. Next week Team Harakeke will be going to Travis Wetlands. All of these trips provide excellent experiences and learning opportunities for our learners outside of our school environment. We are very fortunate this year to provide all of these experiences free of charge due to the government's School Donation programme.

Gifted Name

As part of the Christchurch Rebuild Process a sub committee of the Board of Trustees has been working with our Mātauraka Mahaanui (local iwi/runga representatives) facilitator to build a Māori cultural narrative for our school. Conversations have begun around incorporating learning around local places of significance to bring a more localised curriculum focus to the forefront. In addition, it is anticipated that every student understands the names of the new buildings and their relationship one to the other, and the relevance of those names to the geographical area. This is about truly integrating te ao and tikanga Māori, stories and history into our teaching and learning programmes and our school.

The first part of this process has been gifting the school a name. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tūāhuriri Education Committee, through its Chair Lynne Harata Te Aika, has gifted us the name;

Te Kāpehu (which means The Compass)

“Ko ngā whetū te kāpehu i ngā wā o mua” – stars were the compass in the days of old.

Stars were navigational markers.

Before the introduction of a compass to Aotearoa NZ, Māori used landmarks, supplemented with the observation of the position of star constellations and planets. From sea, one could navigate following stars at night, understanding and following weather patterns (wave direction, wind direction, cloud formations, the presence and behaviours of birds.

We are in the middle of travel routes to the South-West (towards Te Waihora for seasonal food gathering), to the North (returning to Kaiapoi Pā and beyond), to the East (to Pūtaringamotu, to Te Ihutai, to the Port Hills, all important food gathering places for birds, fish and plants), with the Ōtākaro and Ōpāwaho Rivers (Avon and Heathcote) not too distant as important travel routes and mahinga kai spots.

Our location is in close proximity to 'Church Corner'. Here there is the convergence of many streets, which becomes a point of navigation, and place finding for people moving about the city.

As a Board of Trustees we are seeking consultation on what version of the name we take up. This can be Māori only, or a dual Māori and English name. Following this consultation period we will make a decision and move forward with the plans to have our name officially changed. We would like to get your feedback on the following options;

Te Kāpehu Kura o Riccarton

Te Kāpehu Kura

Te Kāpehu Riccarton School

Te Kāpehu School

Please note that our current official name is Riccarton School. We are known as Riccarton Primary School to avoid confusion with Riccarton High School. If you have any questions or comments regarding the name, please send them to office@riccartonprimary.school.nz and put Te Kāpehu in the subject line. Please do this before Friday 6th November. The changing of a name can stir up many memories and emotions, however, this is an important step in acknowledging our mana whenua and integrating more te reo and tikanga Māori into our learning at Riccarton. Please look at this as an opportunity to add more mana to our school.

Thank you for your continued support. Please continue to encourage your children to be respectful, responsible real learners.

Ngā mihi nui

Paul Irving

Tumuaki - Principal

Share Article