• Transcript

  Ko Pātangata te maunga, ko Wharekahika te awa Ko Hinemaurea te marae, ko Ngāti Porou te iwi, ko Tūwhakairiora te hapū, ko Horouta te waka. Ko wai ahau? Ko Erana Haerewa ahau. Nō Wharekahika, nō Ngāti Porou hoki. Ko au te kaihautū o te waka o Te Puna Reo Puhi Kaiti. Tokoono ōku tamariki, tokowaru ōku mokopuna. Kei a ratou aku taonga mō apōpō. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou i tēnei rā.

  My name is Erana Haerewa and I am the tumuaki of Te Puna Reo Puhi Kaiti. We are a Māori immersion centre, licensed for 37 tamariki. We have 11 kaiako within our team and our curriculum delivery is based on Ngāti Poroutanga. My leadership role here at Te Puna Reo is guided by a well known Ngāti Porou leader, Tā Apirana Turupa Ngata – 'E tipu e rea', tōna whakatauākī.

  E tipu e rea mō ngā rā o tō ao Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā Hei oranga mō tō tinana Ko tō ngākau ki ngā tāonga a ō tīpuna Māori Hei tikitiki mō tō māhunga Ko tō wairua ki te atua Nānā nei ngā mea katoa

  This whakatauākī, it drives me in my leadership role and my team as he states, go forward and take the tools of the Pākehā so I’m looking at taking the best tools to enrich the learning for our tamariki Māori here at Te Puna Reo and also holding onto my values of my tīpuna and guided with respect for the tamariki, respect for my teachers who I have alongside me. We have a collaborative approach here at Puna Reo and I’m the driver of our team, ensuring that our focus of a vision of excellence is upheld. Ka pērā ki a Apirana Ngata me ngā tangata rongonui o Ngāti Porou. We’re driving on the wisdom of our tīpuna to go forward and ensure that we are providing rich learning for our tamariki, empowering them in both worlds in Te Ao Māori me te taha Pākehā to ensure that our tamariki are navigating a journey of success in education as lifelong learners. I see my role as a leader for learning to be actively engaged with my teaching staff, to be modelling a practice of excellence. My vision is for my leadership to be an example of excellence so that the children, the Māori tamariki that attend Puna Reo, experience a high quality Māori immersion curriculum delivery. Our collaborative leadership here at Te Puna Reo is focused on bringing out the strengths, and the talents, and the mātauranga, the knowledge of all our kaiako, and empowering them to go deeper, and research, and share their gifts and talents with our team and transfer that into our children’s learning. As an intentional leader, I’m driven by my upbringing where my mother, she worked hard in the community and she was very, very active. In Ngāti Porou we have so many strong leaders, tangata rongonui, that have paved the way for us so I’m driven to ensure that our tamariki have intentional learning with a practice of quality, practice of care and intentionality, and that all our teachers are on board and inspired to do that also. In kaiako hui I share whakataukī, I share books that I’ve read, I share research, I’m an avid reader, I love research. If I’m going to be expecting excellence, I’ve got to be modelling excellence to my staff and working alongside them and showing them that I am actively engaged and that I am driving the waka with a vision of excellence. Guided by the strength of our Māori leaders in education and inspired and motivated to create an atmosphere of learning here at Puna Reo where it’s innovative, where it’s creative, where teachers aren’t held down, where they’re inspired to go outside the box. Sometimes the waka goes a bit wobbly and I have to have hard conversations and remind our teachers about our tīpuna that went to war to fight for the price of citizenship and about the hard work and the sacrifices that they made. So that’s a little technique that I have and because we all resonate with the 28th Māori battalion and the mana that they had for the struggles and for the commitment that they had for te iwi Māori, ko tēnā te mea nui ki Te Puna Reo.

This video is part of the Leadership for Learning downloadable workshop.