Cultural

Our school values Te Tiriti o Waitangi and we are on a journey as we activate Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our daily lives.  Our focus is to:

• progress Te reo Māori and its usage bilingually and multilingually

• roster reciprocal Whānau / School Partnership, participation and contribution

• activate Te Tiriti o Waitangi throug a naturalised Te reo Māori (me ōna Tikanga) programme 

Whānau Hui

Anyone in our school is welcome to attend this meeting, however it is more targeted for our Māori families.  We meet regularly to develop whanaungatanga and discuss school issues and in particular our shared aspirations for our Māori tamariki. This gathering is open to anyone in our school and is an opportunity to share ideas, skills and knowledge and plan for the future of our children.  Meetings are advertised in our newsletters and Hero notifications and everyone is welcome.

Te Ao Māori, Matauranga Māori, Te Reo Māori

Wherever possible our classes integrate Te Ao Māori, matauranga Māori and te reo Māori.  As a whole school we are on are journey in developing our reo (language) and understandings and we seek to continue growing in this area.  Tamariki are given the opportunity to speak reo, learn purakau, tikanga, karakia, waiata etc. and to learn from one another through the development of tuakana / teina relationships across the school.  Many of our kaiako team and kaimahi team are learning Te reo Māori and are active participants in ako (reciprocally learning from those around them).  Our desire is for our Māori students to succeed as Māori in our kura.  Our GSNS Hautū plan has been developed to enable this. 

Mihi whakatau

This is the name we give to informally welcome new children, parents, whānau, trainee teachers and Kaiako (teachers) and Kaimahi (support staff) when they are joining our school 'family'.  We hold a powhiri or mihi whakatau at the end of each term and welcome people by performing our haka, singing waiata and introducing each other.  It's a lovely way to be welcomed in our school and afterwards we celebrate by sharing some kai together and older children (i.e. not new entrants) will have the chance to meet their new teacher/class.

Kapa Haka

Kapa haka is available to all children.  Practice times etc. will be placed in our daily school notices.  

Thriving as a Māori

We have some stunning opportunities for our children; one of them being Junior Student Leaders of the Dunedin Town Belt Kaitiaki.  This group is facilitated by our within school Kahui Ako teachers, Claire Spencer and Jo Henderson.  Click here if you would like to read about how this work is helping our students to thrive.

Pasifika Performance Group

This group is open to anyone and in particular we encourage our children who identify as Pasifika to come along and take part.  Practices are on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. and performances are arranged throughout the year.   

 Contact:  Ruth Pereira ruth@georgestreet.school.nz

Events:

This is a list of the events and activities our children will be involved in this year.  

• Matariki

• Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week)

• Hui Whānau

• Kapa haka

• Polyfest (may be a performance group only)

If you have any skills in leading kapa haka or any other cultural aspect, please contact:

Leonie Spencer     leonie@georgestreet.school.nz