Ngā Pānui

A Letter to Whānau

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Firstly, please let us say that it is an honour and a privilege to have been trusted with your most precious gifts … your tamariki. Our focus for the first few weeks together has been on getting to know your tamariki, and providing opportunities for them to get to know us too. However, it is also important that we get to know you, their whānau, and that you get to know us too! So we have pulled together  a few key messages that we would like to share with you as we begin this journey together.

Your Tamariki are our number one priority!

We understand that you have your child’s needs and best interests as your number one priority. However, as kaiārahi we must have the needs and interests of all of our pononga (students) as our top priority. As such, we may differ in our approach to certain issues or situations. But please be assured that your child is extremely precious to us, too. We see their uniqueness, worth and importance, and we will do everything within our power to endeavour to nurture and grow every single tamaiti in our puna.

This is all new, so please be patient

Te Pā o Rākaihautū is the first of it’s kind in the country. What we are doing here is groundbreaking stuff! It is new and exciting, and gives us all hope that there is a better model of education out there, one where those who succeed are the norm, not the minority. However, in order to achieve this vision we will need to do things differently. We will need to try things out and be prepared to veer off the path of the tried and true. We understand that this requires a huge amount of faith on your behalf, and that the way we do things at Te Pā will be different to what you are used to. This is all new to us too. But please trust in us and be patient as we work things out together. We won’t always get things right the first time, but please be assured that we will never gamble with your child’s education.

It takes a village to raise a child!

As your child’s kaiārahi, we are not solely responsible for their learning. We are all in this together! We understand that you know your child best and in a way that we will quite possibly never know them. Therefore, collectively we will be of maximum benefit to your tamariki if we all work together to help and support them. We need to work as a team, therefore, establishing strong relationships and clear lines of communication between kaiārahi and whānau is going to be vital! Please know that you are always welcome in our learning spaces and we encourage you to come in and be involved in any way you can. You need to know how and what your child is learning, and to be involved in their learning journey. If there is something you don’t understand or that concerns you, please contact us so we can talk it through. Our doors are always open.

Education at Te Pā is about much more than test scores

Just like every other school in Aotearoa, we will be monitoring your child’s progress via standardised testing (ngā whānaketanga). However, we would like to stress the point that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that makes your tamariki special and unique. The people who create these standards do not know your tamariki the way their kaiārahi hope to, and certainly not the way their whānau do. They do not know that many of your tamariki speak two languages. They do not know that they can play a musical instrument or that they can dance, sing, paint or draw. They do not know the strength of their character or that their laughter can light up the whole room. They do not know that they write poetry or songs, play or participate in sports, or that sometimes they take care of their little brother or sister after school. They do not know that they have travelled to the most incredible places or that they know the stories of their ancestors in graphic detail. They do not know that they could perform kapa haka before they could even walk, or that they love nothing better that to spend time with their nanny or koro. They do not know that they can be trustworthy, kind or thoughtful, and that they try, every day, to be their very best and to live by the values of Te Pā o Rākaihautū. Standardised testing is important. But please remember that although these scores tell you something, they will not tell you everything.

How can you, the whānau, help with this journey?

·       Write positive comments to your tamariki, and our Pā wananga, on relevant blog pages

·       Assist your tamariki to create a diary (electronic or written) of questions and discuss ways to gain some answers

·       Encourage your tamariki to read, read, read

·       Place posters of times tables, maps of the Aotearoa/the world etc in common areas eg. the wharepaku wall

·       Regularly discuss ways of contributing to others eg.  fundraising for a cause, making cards of thanks, making small gifts, assisting the elderly, good manners, keeping an area of the beach free from rubbish etc

·       Live, love and laugh

Nāku noa,

Nā ngā Kaiārahi