Tēnā koutou e te whānau kei raro i te korowai o te kōanga

It has been so nice to have Tama-nui- te- rā shining his light down on everyone as we move into spring. What a beautiful week of weather we have had.

Our tamariki have been busy the last few weeks with Whitireia visiting Rehua marae where our ākonga learnt the history of the marae.

We have begun our whakawhānaungatanga visits with Tuahiwi preschool again this term with Kiwi and Pipi.

The firewise programme came in and worked with our Tau / Year 0-3 ākonga.The Get Firewise programme teaches children lifelong behaviours that will help them stay safe. It's been developed using best practice techniques for teaching safety information to young children.

Some of our Tau/ Year 7/8 ākonga have been attending a carving school in Aranui with Matua Kiwhakiwha. Matua Raphael is the lead tutor for this and he has taught our ākonga the tikanga of whakairo and karakia etc. Our tamariki are loving their time carving and are creating some amazing creative pieces.

We have Matua Kevin teaching our ākonga across the kura from Tau 4-Tau 8 Mau rākau.

Our tamariki are enjoying this and are learning traditional Māori ancestral practices, values and protocols whilst also gaining new skills and getting fit.

Our lunchtime clubs continue each day and Matua Gary has been so committed to teaching our tamariki Karate each week. Tuahine Cheyenne with her dance competitions and our other kaiako and kaiawhina teaching basketball skills, hair styles, sports and new games.Thank you to our team for providing our tamariki with opportunities to keep busy and engaged in activities at lunchtime.

We were fortunate to have Hoaka Pounamu in our kura on Monday. The kaiako worked with our ākonga across the kura teaching them Te Reo Māori through activities and/or a new game or skill in Te Reo Māori.Whilst our tamariki were having lessons so too were our kaiako.

Our Whitireia kaiako met other kaiako online from other Kura and were able to share resources and kōrero in Te Reo Māori with other fluent speakers.

Our Puaka kaiako learnt different strategies of how to teach Reo a waha/ oral language in the classroom/akomanga and were shared into resources that will support the ākonga with raising their ability in Te Reo Māori.

Next week is Te Wiki O te Reo Māori and our tuākana are performing kapa haka at Kaiapoi library and we are also celebrating with a disco at Pines beach on Thursday night.

The theme of Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori – making the language stronger will continue this year.

Have a lovely weekend and hopefully the weather will continue to be warm.

Ngā manaakitanga

Dot Singh

Tumuaki

Te Kura O Tuahiwi