Te Ao Maori (Kawa/Tikanga)

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou ka ora ai te iwi. 

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.

This whakatauki advocates for all of our community, working together to uphold tikanga Māori.

Key concepts for us and our tamariki to understand:

• Tapu – Tapu means ‘sacred’, or something regarded with the utmost respect. 
• Noa – Noa means ordinary, common or free from restriction or the rules of tapu. For example, saying a farewell karakia in kapa haka to remove the rules of tapu. 
• Tikanga – Māori customary practices or behaviours. Tikanga is to behave in a way that is culturally proper or appropriate. This is how we do things.
• Kawa – Protocol and etiquette, the policy of how it is. This is what we do!

Hui

• At all staff meetings, we follow our Staff Meeting - Tikanga. The idea is to emulate and practise tikanga within Te Ao Māori just within our staff so that when called upon, we feel comfortable stepping up to do this in other settings.

Ceremonies

• Guidance for ceremonies such as pōwhiri, mihi whakatau, poroporoaki, blessing spaces within our school and practises such as whaikōrero and karanga is taken from the guidelines put together by our Kaihautū rōpu in consultation with Ōrongomai Marae.

Karakia/Kaikōrero

• We wait outside the door until the karakia or kaikōrero ceremony proceedings are over. We try to not fidget or walk around during karakia.
• We do not walk in front of those who are speaking as this can be seen as mana diminishing.
• We say karakia to start our day, before kai (morning tea and lunch) and at the end of the day. These are visible in class so that they can be recited even if there is a reliever.

Mihi

• We greet those who enter a room to acknowledge the mana that they bring with them.
• We give praise and uplift others through public acknowledgement (mihi) followed by a waiata tautoko.

Kotahitanga (Daily hui)

• At the start of each day, EVERY class starts with Kotahitanga. It is a time to bring us together and share karakia, pepeha, waiata, notices, the date and the weather.

Tīnana

• All tīnana are tapu therefore we treat them with respect.
• We only touch someone’s head with permission and treat them with respect.
• We do not wear hats or hoods indoors.
• We recognise that sleeping pillows are not to be sat on and cushions in our learning spaces that are sat on are not for our heads.
• We avoid stepping over any part of someone else as this can be mana diminishing.
• We do not wear shoes in our classrooms to keep the paru (dirt) out as it is a special learning space for us all.

Kai

• Tables or spaces that we eat at are not to be sat or leant on. We also don’t place items on tables that should not belong on them (e.g bags).
• We are mindful that we do not pass food over other people’s heads, it goes around them.
• We practise whanaungatanga at kai time – students are able to sit together across classes and eat either outside Rooms 1 and 2 or on the courts.

Te Taiao (The Environment)

• We follow correct processes when cutting harakeke (karakia, correct cutting, not during time of menstruation or hapūtanga).
• We respect our environment and return things to their rightful place if it is removed from the environment.

Whanaungatanga

• We are kind and caring towards each other and treat each other like whānau.
• We actively seek opportunities to give back to Ōrongomai Marae and work alongside them.