by MIke Fowler

Who we are and what we do - Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi kāhui ako

Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi kāhui ako is a community of learning like no other: four really diverse schools and 12 early childhood education centres, located in and around the central city!

Key stats:

  • Our name, ‘Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi’, refers to our diverse educational kinship group all located near the centre of Ōtautahi and spanning education from early childhood to Year 14. Just as te taura [rope] has many strands, our kāhui ako has many strands. Each strand represents one of our diverse educational institutions which bind together to form one strong rope, or community of learning.

  • What we've been working so far: check out our E-Pitopito Kōrero for September 2020, November 2020, April 2021 and July 2021
  • 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 Community Preschool, Rangi Ruru Preschool, The Rainbow Corner.
  • Our kura are Ao Tawhiti, Christchurch East School, Te Pā o Rākaihautū, Te Puna Wai O Waipapa.
  • 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 [Te Puna Wai O Waipapa]
  • Across-school teachers are our ECE expert Jocelyn Wright, Nathan Walsh, Jasmine Lambert [from Te Puna Wai O Waipapa], and Kay Hayes [Ao Tawhiti]. The community leader is Mike Fowler [Te Puna Wai O Waipapa].
  • Our achievement challenges:

  1. Culturally responsive practice: Engaging in culturally responsive and relational pedagogy and practices to ensure that our Māori students experience success as Māori, led by Māori for Māori.
  2. Wellbeing: happy, safe and responsible akonga who are positive and have a strong sense of identity and belonging in Aotearoa.
  3. Future focused education: Creating cross-kura opportunities to engage ākonga in future focused and innovative learning, engaging students in a curriculum that is ‘future-ready’.
  4. Pathways: Kura and ECEs have cohesive transition procedures that ensure students and whānau move seamlessly into, within and beyond our learning environments.