We had a wonderful time celebrating Georgia’s 15th birthday this week. She is our oldest student, and we are so proud of her amazing progress. Happy birthday, Georgia! You are awesome.

This term, we have a lot of exciting activities going on with our tamariki. They continue with Te Kura bilingual, swimming, learning guitar, structured literacy, and explore Matariki. They are also practicing Kapa Haka and learning Mau Rakau, (traditional Māori arts) that connect them to their culture and heritage.

“We are passionate about bringing back Te Ao Māori for the next generation.”

Kia Kaha, halfway through their first year of UC teachers training bilingual, our three rangatahi are making us proud. They are learning to teach in English and our ancestral language. They are our future leaders and decision-makers that are honoring our heritage and our identity. They are the future and culture of our people.

Thank you Jo & your team from RTLB as well as Ariana and Catherine for letting Te Hono/Whānau join in on your hui and start our “where to from here” kōrero to ensure our tamariki are getting the best out of their kura learning.

“Loved the nothing about us without us & kids do well if they can! “

PARENTS - CHANGING YOUR ROLE IN THE LIFE OF YOUR CHILD CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING!

Change your lens: concerning behaviour is not the result of poor parenting, faulty learning, or poor motivation.

• Identify the skills your child needs to overcome the difficulties

• Solve problems collaboratively and proactively

• Partner with teachers at school

• Advocate and ask questions

• What is the behaviour/signal telling us?

So I missed our beautiful breakfast thanks to Covid however it heard it was teno reka! Everyone got to hear my long-winded Te Hono speech thanks to Hayley.

Love this kaupapa connecting us, helping us to maintain and strengthen our cultural identity here in Te Tai O Poutini.

Also helps us to achieve mauri ora (an active state of wellbeing) as we very rearly get to slow down and do something for ourselves.

Gives us a space to honor the past, living in the present and preparing for the future.

Ill be at the next one!

Our Wahine group has started Wednesdays 5-7pm at Lazer Park Hall. This was the week that a lot were away due to illness, so much interest.

Mau Rakau is a traditional Maori martial art that involves the use of weapons such as taiaha (fighting staffs), mere (clubs) and tewhatewha (axes). Mau Rakau means "to bear a weapon" and it is said that the weapons were given by Tane, the god of the forest, and Tu, the god of war. Mau Rakau teaches the skills, values and protocols of the Maori warrior culture. It also helps to preserve and promote Maori language, history and identity. Mau Rakau is practiced in schools, communities and prisons as a way of learning, healing and empowerment.

Kia Kaha, come along and have a look!

This week we received this recognition for our COVID-19 mahi.

Covid was the start of our mahi and what a perfect time it was to start. We got to do things differently, thinking outside the mainstream systems and generate solutions that worked best for whānau.

We continue to build on this, grow and shift mainstream ways of thinking to ensure equitable access to services and supports for our whānau in Te Tai O Poutini. “All of us together doing a little bit makes a massive difference.”

Kei roto i te pōuri, te marama e whiti ana.

Whānau enjoyed a great day at Rewanui Animal Park this week, we will be back. “Relationships and connections are central to Māori and Māori wellbeing. Whanaungatanga is about forming and maintaining relationships and strengthening ties between kin and communities. This value is the essential glue that binds people together, providing the foundation for a sense of unity, belonging and cohesion.”

Met with Sarah Fry the ‘Communications Manager’ for MSD to support them creating a video for their MSD team on the benefits of connections with other services in the community like our WC Youth Pathway Service. Really appreciate how hard the team at MSD work and grateful for the strong relationship we are building with the team in Greymouth including Chris Efford (as seen in photo) with their knowledge and support they provide to us and our Rangatahi.

We are so grateful to be a part of such an amazing generous community. Thank you, Hokitika New World and West REAP for your continual support, for our whānau.

“He hono tangata e kore e motu, kāpā he taura waka, e motu.” “Human connections cannot be broken!”

Mauri tū mauri ora - An active soul is a healthy soul.

What a great day out at Shantytown and the movies. So awesome seeing how far they have come and can’t wait to see what else we can achieve together through our mahi together.

We got to have the best experience in Kaikoura with so much whānau on our camp with Hokitika Primary last week, all 84 of us! So grateful!

Great to enhance our knowledge in de-escalation training yesterday.

If you are interested in this kaupapa for the future, even if you don’t have tamariki but thinking of your mokopuna then please come along and join in this korero!

Lovely to meet Chiquita Hasen Lead Advisor, Primary and Community Care from the TU team whose main focus is on contributing to the development of the interim NZ Health Plan.

Ngā mihi Poutini (Paige Kirby) for a great day promoting our Whānau health including our staff! Our healthy smoothies were a hit, and we will be in Cobden for the next one on the 15th of March.

All of us count! March 7th.

Ngā mihi nui e te tīma, what a day it was!