Term 1 PLD - Whakawhanaungatanga

Our whole staff professional development day was filled with wairua (spirituality), matauranga (knowledge)and whakaaro nui (respect) for the tangata whenua (people of the land) and learning about the heritage of the Treaty of Waitangi (signed in 1840). So I was so pleased to be able to make the connections of the history that I had learnt about from visiting Waitangi earlier this year and the exact same stories told by Hayden and Harley from what happened 200 years ago throughout Northland down to Pt England and surrounding areas such as Mt Wellington, the Tamaki river, Panmure and the eastern beaches such as Karaka Bay, Kohimarama and Orakei sites. I felt so fortunate to meet Hayden, Harley and Crystal from Ngati Paoa who came to korero with us about their Whakapapa. This invloved a significant loss of land and people from the horrendous Maori land wars, a huge massacre took place that was on the same scale as the soldiers who fell at Gallipoli. They shared the fact that people from their tribe (iwi) were resourceful and productive with the land, as there was an abundance of produce, animals and food to share amongst their hapu. This was distributed fairly and men and women carried out their roles to look after and protect each other. They also shared stories of legends such as those of Taniwha and Princesses ReiPae and sister Reitu (who reigned over the maunga (mountain). The staff from PES took two coaches and went on a hikoi (walk) around significant landmarks such as Maungarei (Mt Wellington), Riverside Ave, overlooking the Tamaki river and Karaka Bay where several Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi once it reached their shores. Here are some photos of my shared learning experience from today...I look forward to learning more with these significant leaders in our community.