Creative excellence applies in our teaching too

‘He puna auaha a centre of creative excellence’, an aspiration for our teachers as well as our rangatahi, since we are all learners.

Over the past few years, members of our staff have been developing their professional knowledge of speaking and integrating tikanga and Te Reo Māori into our classrooms through the Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori (Ngai Tahu) course. As part of this kaupapa, each participant is challenged to develop a resource to promote the teaching of te reo Māori in our spaces. 

One example being used by our Year 9 ākonga is a set of TAP dice, designed to support students to construct and translate basic te reo sentences. These dice were designed and printed using our 3D printers and are a hit with learners. 

This particular piece of mahi was developed by Mrs Sarah Handley as a part of her own learning, and is a fabulous example of teachers applying ‘Learn, Create, Share’ in their own learning. Our Manaiakalani kaupapa isn’t just for the tamariki, but it certainly impacts them as we see from the popularity of the resource.