Aotearoa New Zealand

te rangi tahi together we grow

In getting to know the children in our school, we want to recognise the identity, language and culture of each one.  Because we have very many cultures in our school, our starting point is that we all belong to Aotearoa New Zealand, bringing to our country the many “riches” from our own families and cultural  backgrounds. Our families have all come to this land, whether it was recently or many generations ago. As New Zealanders, we recognise that the tangata whenua or first people of this land are Maori. In recognition of the place that Maori hold in our country, all children have the opportunity to learn something of the language Te Reo and culture Tikanga. While English is the language most commonly spoken in New Zealand, Te Reo Maori could well be the language and tikanga, the culture, that future generations hold in common as the unifying language/culture  of Aotearoa New Zealand. Who knows?

Sometimes parents are concerned that in our school,we don’t use the languages of our children.  One way we try to do this is by having the children teach the class the sign of the cross in their language and I encourage you or your child to share basic greetings with the teacher, which can easilybe used.