Wairakei School – Partnership with Ngāti Tūwharetoa 

In 2009, the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board’s education section approached a group of early years, primary, and secondary settings in their local area to develop student resources based on local iwi and hapū knowledge.  

Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū, early childhood centres, the local principals’ cluster group, and school Boards of Trustees agreed to support the project to develop student resources based on local iwi and hapū knowledge. Participants, including Wairakei Primary School, agreed to work with consenting Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū to trial resources and ensure the materials were integrated meaningfully within their school-based curriculum. 

The project was launched at Pūkawa Marae hosting kaumātua and kuia, representatives from the Ministry of Education, Tūwharetoa hapū, and educators from participating schools and early childhood centres. Throughout the following year, another five hui were held on local marae attended by a variety of teachers and support staff, board members, and community groups. The purpose was to build teacher capacity and knowledge about the local area and to hear the stories from the local hapū within their original context and setting. In this way, participants were immersed in the history of the area and local historical settings around Lake Taupō. 

Hapū appointed facilitators who consulted with each school and centre, collected information, and outlined the project and its objectives. A professional learning group of representatives from across the education sector in the rohe developed a trial resource pack. This first pack contained teacher guidance, lesson plans, posters, and parts of local stories and images about the heritage of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. The group met regularly to talk about iwi stories and discuss the feedback from students and teachers.

"The Tūwharetoa Cultural Knowledge Project has encapsulated our history and relationships to Ngātoro-i-rangi. It links the many landscapes, human and geographical, to the 'place'."
- Maria Rahui, Classroom teacher  

The commitment of the Tūwharetoa Cultural Knowledge Project team and the school-based lead teachers made this project a success. Clear communication was established and maintained, resulting in enthusiasm from teachers and community involvement. The process of developing the resources formed the foundation for the school’s localised curriculum and goal setting. This provided huge learning opportunities for teachers who were not connected to the iwi.  

Teachers from all sectors across the cluster worked together to share ideas and be a part of the learning process. They were immersed in a variety of different cultural experiences that they could bring back to their classroom programmes. 

"As teachers, we are continuously looking at how we can engage our students in their learning while always making their learning meaningful. Working with the resources developed by the Tūwharetoa Cultural Knowledge Project, we have been able to personalise the learning for our students. We have been able to engage with the iwi, and in turn, they have supported us and helped guide us in the development of our school-based curriculum.
- Paula Farquhar, Principal 

It has been humbling to be a part of the Tūwharetoa Cultural Knowledge Project. The project has enabled schools in the Taupō area to develop and impart the knowledge of the Tūwharetoa iwi and the tangata whenua in a way that is sustainable for the future".  
- Danelle Unuwai, Lead Teacher Curriculum 

The final resources were gifted to schools and displayed for the wider community at the launch of Te Kete Rauemi’ at Waitetoko Marae. Participating lead teachers took parents and representative groups of students to be a part of the celebration. Hapū also had the opportunity to ‘teach’ teachers. 

Wairakei Primary School dedicated time to discuss the implementation of the resources and develop teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the content. Teachers created displays and found that students began retelling the stories and taking notice of the posters in the classrooms. The school was in the process of developing their localised curriculum, and by making links to these resources, they could create a continuous link to the knowledge of local iwi for classroom programmes. 

"I enjoyed reading about Lake Taupō and seeing the stories in the books. The pictures were easy to follow."
- Declan, 6 years old

"I didn’t know that the All Blacks' haka was written in our area."
- Crucy, 11 years old

"We learnt about our local leaders and how they supported other people."
- Lilly, 9 years  

Wairakei Primary School devised goals to reflect the importance of this work within their school curriculum and ensure every teacher and student had some ownership of them. Their goals state that all children:

• are to visit at least one Tūwharetoa heritage site and be able to tell the significance of the site for Tūwharetoa iwi 
• are able to say their mihi in front of a group (and that staff are able to do the same)
• can retell a local legend 
• can recite the school karakia without reading it from the PowerPoint. 

Many other cultural connections have been established as a result of this partnership process, including the strengthening of relationships with Wairakei’s tuakana school, Taupo-nui-a-tia College. This has included taking part in pōwhiri at the college and preparing a hāngī for the college on a return visit as an extension of manaakitanga.  

Principal Paula Farquhar said the involvement was invaluable. It supported her to focus school development on the local environment and use this knowledge. It allowed her to gain a deeper insight into the lives of her students, specific to their heritage, and to form strong connections with community leaders within the iwi. The partnership was the catalyst for conversations about cultural responsiveness within the school.