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Photo by MIke Fowler

Ko wai mātou - who we are and what we are working on together

Mike Fowler - Kāhui Community Leader, Hagley —

Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi kāhui ako is a community of learning like no other: four really diverse schools and 11 early childhood education centres, located in and around the central city!

What's our focus in 2021?

Our kāhui ako has several major across-kāhui initiatives as well as in-school projects to work towards the achievement challenges detailed in many articles in this e-news edition. Our across-kāhui projects include:

· place based learning

· culturally responsive practice

· a Te Taura Here Mental Health Adviser

· successful transitions

· mentoring at risk learners

· supporting Digital Technologies curriculum implementation

Key stats for our kāhui:

  • Numbers: our kāhui has 600 children enrolled in early childhood education, 700 at primary level and 1500 students at secondary level: a total of 2800 learners.
  • Our ECEs are Beststart Parkside, Beststart Salisbury St, Active Explorers Central City, Ara Early Learning Centre, Co Kids, Grow Active Balfour, Grow Active Essex, Grow Active Welles, Millie's House, Hagley Preschool, Rangi Ruru Preschool.
  • Our kura are Ao Tawhiti, Christchurch East School, Te Pā o Rākaihautū, Hagley College.
  • Start date: we are one of the last kāhui to be formed: we started during 2020
  • Our kāhui in-school teachers are Hireke Zygadlo [Te Pā o Rākaihautū], Lorraine Lowe, Sonia Cushing, Michelle Stock [Christchurch East]; Craig Perry, Sarah Higginson, Laura Borrowdale [Ao Tawhiti] Sarah Parder, Jo Eaton, Angela Brett, Rebecca Donaldson, Lesley Cowie, Dale Leckie, Naomi Milner [Hagley]
  • Across-school teachers are our ECE expert Jocelyn Wright, Nathan Walsh, Jasmine Lambert [from Hagley], and Kay Hayes [Ao Tawhiti]. The community leader is Mike Fowler [Hagley].

Our achievement challenges:

  • Wellbeing: happy, safe and responsible akonga who are positive and have a strong sense of identity and belonging in Aotearoa.
  • Future focused education: communities working collaboratively to contribute to our inner city environment and surrounding areas.
  • Pathways: ākonga and whānau who successfully transition into our educational settings, within them and beyond them.
  • Culturally responsive practice: having high expectations for ākonga Māori so they can succeed as Māori