Ao Tawhiti has only existed as a Year 1-13 school since 2014.

And we have only been located in our finished building since mid 2019. As we settle and develop our identity in our new location, it is important that we are connected with our mana whenua. To this end, a group of our staff joined a Ngāi Tūāhuriri workshop at the start of this term which was great for those involved and we are looking at how we can encourage more of our staff to attend these workshops in the future.

We have also made a connection with our Mana Whenua representative who has expertise in the field of education and will work with us as we grow a deeper understanding of the rich cultural narratives that are unique to our central location. This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to develop our local curriculum and we are currently exploring how we might raise the awareness of all of our staff to the rich stories and histories that exist outside our front door in the CBD. This in turn will contribute to the integration of these stories into the learning of our students and our sense of place and identity in this unique location.