Whakatupuranga « kerikeriprimary.school.nz

Bi-Lingual Unit

Toi te kupu
Toi te mana
Toi te whenua

The permanence of the language, prestige and land

Welcome to Kerikeri Primary School and in particular to Whakatipuranga.

This is a bilingual unit that was set up in 2001.
We have two classes that cater for our junior and senior tamariki.

Room 1 Year 4 – 6 tamariki.
Room 2 Year 1 – 3 tamariki.

The teachers in each class are dedicated and very passionate about teaching in the bilingual unit. They are Mrs Waimarie Muunu and Mrs Liz Baker.

Both classes operate at Level 3, which means that 30% of our programme is in Maori and 70% in English.

The unit promotes a holistic approach to children’s’ learning. The day starts with Karakia followed by Kori Tinana. The core curriculum subjects, Maths, Writing and Reading are during the morning and then topic is in the afternoon.

An open door policy is apparent in our unit and we enjoy getting to know your child and your family. We welcome any assistance in the class that would benefit our children’s’ learning.

Strengths

The unit is located in the centre of the school in Rooms 1 and 2. The classrooms look out into the main court yard with the sandpit and playing fields at it’s doorway.

The multi level classes give the opportunity for Tuakana (elder children) Teina (younger children) to learn together. This is when children use their strengths and share this with others. We have found this very successful in all areas of the curriculum especially Whaikorero. An integrated approach is used to plan for the multi levels and to cover all curriculum areas. This means that we link the subjects into one main topic. We inform our parents about our planning and encourage involvement at this level.

Whanau input is very strong with attendance at our monthly meetings. We have a representative from the school management team at these meetings which shows the schools commitment to the unit.

The children are also involved in school wide activities, such as swimming, athletics, cross-country, problem solving, road patrol, peer
mediation and student council.

Special Events

Whakatipuranga is very active and leads a welcoming performance for new students, teachers and families to the school.

The school Kapa Haka Group meet once a week with a festival in Kaikohe and the school Gala Day as events that the group performs
annually.

Education outside the classroom is a great way to involve whanau. We try to visit places in our community that reflect our learning intentions once a term. In term four the senior class is involved with Maori speeches (Whaikorero). A trophy was kindly donated to acknowledge the children’s achievements in Te Reo Maori.

Weekly we have whanaungatanga where the students are acknowledged for their achievements. This time is lead by our students and very rewarding.

Expectations

Commitment of pupil and family to Tikanga Maori.
Commitment to ongoing support of the class from family.
The pupil’s record in regards,
behavior/attitude/achievement.
The pupil’s desire to work well and maintain our core values.

Values

Our school values are reflected in the unit as :

Care / Awhina
Courtesy / Aroha
Co operation / Tautoko

Our children will grow as they are nurtured with te reo me ona tikanga.

If you are interested in your child attending whakatipuranga, please contact us and come for a visit.


Te Kapa Haka Tuatahi O Kerikeri Kerikeri Primary School Kapa Haka Group 2007

Powhiri
In February we had a Powhiri at school to welcome new children and staff



Te Whakatupuranga gathered on the first day of Term 2 for beautiful Karakia (Blessing) on our new Junior Playground.

Heritage Park visit by Room 2 August 2010
Room 1 enjoyed their time at Heritage Park. We saw the Kiwi’s, Ruru and Gecko’s. Our class had a fabulous time learning about sound and interacting with the experiments. Thanks very much to the wonderful staff at Kiwi North Education Centre.