Hikoi ki runga Maungawhau

Korihi te manu Takiri mai te ata Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea Tihei Mauri Ora!

The bird sings, The morning has dawned, The day has broken, Behold there is life!

This year Te Ao Māori Initiative has Steven Van Nes and Sonya Van Schaiik under the guidance of Champion Jane Bush.

Term 1 was incredibly busy with the ISL involved in collaborating on the Kapa Kāhui 2023 which was the culmination of a year's work in schools.

To read more about this event, do check out our previous post.

In term 2, we officially launched this year's initiative with a hīkoi up Maungawhau  with In School Leaders from 2022 and welcomed new In School Leaders for 2023. Several of our principals joined us in the launch. This took place on the 4th of May at 7:15am.

Ngā mihinui to Steve for opening the session with mihi. The day poured with rain and so we huddled up in the Friend and Whau Cafe and made connections with each other. Special thanks to Bridget for opening the Friend and Whau cafe.

We learnt about the local history of Maungawhau and outside we could see the whau growing in abundance around the cafe. We were also able to see the kumara growing and there was a feeling of connections to the history of the maunga when Waiohua lived here. Evidence of the kumara pits can still be seen on the mountain.

Friend and Whau Cafe is not  just a nice place to enjoy a cup of coffee, this is Maungawhau. The maunga rises to the sky and inspires us by always having something to look up to. Steve spoke about Maungawhau being a maunga that he holds dear to his heart and because Maungawhau shelters several of our  kura in Central Auckland. He reminded us about the other maunga around us such as Ōhinerau and Maungakiekie, and like us, they have their own whakapapa, their own stories to tell.

But unlike us people do move on and  it is the land that remains.

Steve also reminded us that as leaders in education in mainstream Aotearoa, we have the honour and responsibility for telling these stories, passing that matauranga to our rangatahi and young people.

One reason that we launched the initiative with a hikoi was to remain true to Te Ao Māori by building  whānaungatanga - relationships. “Who are we, before the mahi”. The session was an opportunity to get to know each other. We shared coffee. Jane Bush , champion, shared about her journey with Te Ao Māori. Jane convinced the schools involved to join our waka. Steve spoke about all of us being involved so far. That we feel as though we have some wind in our sails on our journey to embedding Te Ao Māori into all learning areas. Especially after the success of the Kapa Kāhui.

Several connections were made when some ISL shared their pepeha and Ngāi Tahu and Waiohua featured. The Te Ao Māori initiative is made up of amazing leaders and one of our main kaupapa is learning from each other.

Steve concluded his mihi with the importance of our greatest asset; 'he tangata, he tangata, he tangata’. It is each other.

Once the team disbanded and returned to their schools, Suzanne, Steve and Sonya climbed one of the many walkways that lead to the tihi. This gave us an opportunity to reflect on our work and the chance to discuss how the kapa kāhui provided an opportunity for our schools to come together and celebrate their learning.

To read more about the history of Maungawhau- check out this link from Auckland Transport and proceed straight to Page 64.

You can read about Te Ipu a Mataaoho here, a tupuna of Waiohua who lived on the mountain.