Maia Matchitt, 16, prefect at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu. She is looking forward to learning at the new site on Bennett Rd, Hastings, next week. Photo \/ Warren Buckland<\/p>\n
The school opened as a k\u014dhanga reo with just 12 students in 1991, the first total-immersion te reo M\u0101ori school in Hastings and Napier.<\/p>\n
Tama Huata was the tipuna and founder of Te W\u0101nanga Whare T\u0101pere o Takitimu, starting the kaupapa in 1983 and formalising it as Te Waka Tapu o Takitimu Trust in 1984.<\/p>\n
The founding trustees were Tama Huata, Aorangi Tuki, Heke Huata and Manawa Tini.<\/p>\n
His daughter Narelle Huata said everything developed from Tama Huata\u2019s experience as a M\u0101ori entertainer in Sydney\u2019s M\u0101ori music showbands scene<\/p>\n
\u201cHe then returned to New Zealand and started the performing arts school modelled off his experiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sir John Bennett, Te Amorangi Wi Te Tau Huata, Ringahora Heni Ngakai Huata, Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, Bill Hamilton and Joe Northover were the kaumatua who helped Huata to establish the school, and developed leaders in M\u0101ori performing arts since 1983 through the Kahurangi Dance company.<\/p>\n
Now the school has more than 200 students, and became the first to offer a degree in M\u0101ori Performing Arts in 1995 according to the Education Review Office (ERO).<\/p>\n
The kura, k\u014dhanga reo and w\u0101nanga expanded when it was recognised with \u201cWharekura status\u201d<\/a> in 2015, which allowed it to enrol high school students – completing its unique, seamless education model from birth to old age.<\/p>\n A 2023 report written by Lynda Pura-Watson, deputy chief executive of evaluation and review M\u0101ori for ERO, found Te W\u0101nanga Whare T\u0101pere o Takitimu successfully fostered leadership for learners from birth to 65-plus.<\/p>\n \u201cMokopuna thrived in a nurturing environment and students were confident in their learning, achieving high levels of success in National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) including endorsements\u201d she wrote for ERO.<\/p>\n The relocation journey began nearly a decade ago when members of Te Kauwae Rangatiratanga (school board) began working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) as the kura had become too small<\/a> to cater for the growing number of families wanting to enrol their children.<\/p>\n An announcement of MOE\u2019s purchase of the Bennett Rd site was made in 2017<\/a> and Hastings District Council approved the site<\/a> for educational use in 2018.<\/p>\n At the time, $12.7 million was approved for the build.<\/a><\/p>\n Whetu Marama Paenga, Te Pou o Te Wharekura (head teacher, high school), attended the k\u014dhanga reo and kura himself before studying at the University of Waikato and returning as the first wharekura teacher in 2015.<\/p>\n He said the high school roll had been too big at the old site and they had needed to establish two prefab buildings to fit classes and later split off to a second site established on Beatty St.<\/p>\n The primary schooling section now has three large open spaces for years 0-2, 3-4 and 5-6, each equipped with kitchenettes.<\/p>\n Intermediate-age children have their own space in a building shared with specialised classes for high school-age students, including soundproofed music rooms, an art room, and a sewing room among the 14 different spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is cool knowing now that the kids have more space,\u201d Paenga said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are self-sufficient now, we can do everything.\u201d<\/p>\n The new site also has multi-purpose outdoor courts, a massive indoor gym building, a h\u0101ngi pit and native gardens including a centre piece boardwalk garden modelled from the \u0100tea a Rangi star compass in Waitangi Regional Park near Awatoto.<\/p>\n A w\u0101nanga tertiary building will eventually be added and Paenga said there were hopes future students would pick it, over leaving for other universities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want our kids to leave here and aspire to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n The philosophy of the school: \u201cMai te k\u014dpu o te Whaea ki te k\u014dpu o Papatu\u0101nuku\u201d or \u201cwomb-to-tomb\u201d learning, comes from its founders.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we are the only ones that have gone from k\u014dhanga, kura, wharekura to w\u0101nanga and we have taikura too (a programme for elders).\u201d<\/p>\n The model has become self-sustaining, with many students like Paenga opting to return and work for the place that helped raise them.<\/p>\n Paenga gave the example of a staff member who started in the w\u0101nanga and had a son who went through the k\u014dhanga and kura and became a teacher.<\/p>\n That teacher is also sending his children through the k\u014dhanga and kura.<\/p>\n \u201cI have three students who want to be teachers… We don\u2019t have to go elsewhere looking for a teacher, we know \u2018In five years you\u2019ll be old enough and come back\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Maia Matchitt, a prefect at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu, couldn\u2019t pick her favourite part of the new site- she loved it all too much.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing, I can\u2019t believe we\u2019re here,\u201d Matchitt said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just way bigger than our other school. I don\u2019t know what to do with all this space.\u201d<\/p>\n The 16-year-old went to the k\u014dhanga reo and began her primary school years in the mainstream schooling system before returning to the kura in year four.<\/p>\n She takes a broad range of classes which will benefit from the new spaces, including Te Reo M\u0101ori, Te Ao Haka and sports like netball.<\/p>\n Phase two of the project involves the relocation of wh\u0101nau from Albert St to Bennett Rd, and includes the sale of the Albert St site and the start of the new w\u0101nanga build at Bennett Rd.<\/p>\n A statement from Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated advocated for a change in the official status of the educational institute from a private training establishment to a W\u0101nanga.<\/p>\n James Pocock joined Hawke\u2019s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on the environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maia Matchitt, 16, prefect at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu. She is looking forward to learning at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,1011,1013,1014,1021,1018,1020,1017,1012,1015,1016,1019],"class_list":{"0":"post-411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-brand","11":"tag-campus","12":"tag-for","13":"tag-hastings","14":"tag-immersion","15":"tag-in","16":"tag-mori","17":"tag-new","18":"tag-pioneering","19":"tag-preschooltotertiary","20":"tag-school"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Whetu Marama Paenga, high school head teacher and music teacher at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu. Photo \/ Warren Buckland<\/p>\n
Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu moved to Bennett Rd after 33 years operating on Albert St. Photo \/ Warren Buckland<\/p>\n