KAUMĀTUA day at Piopio College: this photograph shows a number of those that attended. PHOTO SUPPLIED
COMMUNITY engagement is a priority at Piopio College.
In the words of principal Rakesh Govind, it is “crucial, absolutely”.
The kura recently held two events to achieve that goal: a kaumātua day and an open day.
Partly, these initiatives were about understanding what the wider Piopio community wanted.
“[The school is] a place for the children of the community to come, to learn, and to develop their pathways and future direction.”
So, it was important to connect with parents and grandparents about their hopes for the children’s learning, in particular.
“We need to make sure that … we’re listening to those voices as much as we can, so that we understand what the aspirations are.”
The first event was kaumātua day.
The school had already planned to do a grandparents’ day, after students expressed that they liked the idea of “sharing what we do here,” with older relatives.
The college also wanted to acknowledge Matariki.
So, it combined the two with a kaumātua day held during the Matariki period on June 21. It attracted around 50 parents and grandparents; the showpiece was a formal lunch, starring a hangi.
“The advantage with the hangi is that the students themselves got to prepare the food,” Rakesh said.
“We had lots of food donated from various areas of the community. And then on top of that, we were fortunate that the students could link in with the local marae [Mōkau Kohunui]
Te reo teacher Whaea Amana said kaumātua day was about “putting into practice the theory of te ao Māori”.
So, the kids’ learning started with that important rite of passage: kids peeling rīwai (potatoes) in te kāuta – the marae kitchen.
“The day beforehand, ākonga joined teaching staff and parents at our marae Mōkau Kohunui to prepare for the event.”
Students were also exposed to a range of other Maōri cultural practices, Amana said.
“Starting with a pōwhiri through to practicing manaakitanga [hospitality] for those who were waewae tapu [newcomers to the marae]. These practices were repeated on the day of the special event, and it was a proud moment to see our ākonga put into place what they had learnt leading up to this point.”
“Matariki celebrations are an important event on our school calendar; each year we aim to give a point of difference to celebrate the event.
“This year [it] was to include the most senior members of our community; acknowledging our kaumātua as we celebrate Matariki.”
The second event was an open day on June 29.
About 25 prospective students and their families attended, with the children coming from Aria and Piopio primary schools.
“To put it simply, we talked about our year 7 and 8 programme. [We also] talked about tikanga and what that means for us.”
Other themes were the year 9 and 10 and senior curriculum, literacy and numeracy standards, leadership opportunities, sport and extracurricular activities.
