Tūrangawaewae.

Speech from the opening ceremony in June 2019...
 Speech sharing the journey of the Waharoa – given on the day by Ann

Kia ora everyone!
Thank you so much  for coming!
I’m  Ann Radcliffe- the Head teacher of Northland Kindergarten. I’d like to introduce the team – Anne, Doug, Donna and Hongmei.
- Tēnā koutou katoa to Invited guests. We  hve been gratified by  the responses we have received. Naumai haeremai  to councillors Dianne calvert and Andy foster, and to MP’s Nicola willis and Grant Robertson.  To Paul, Minister from St Anne’s church who blessed our Waharoa so well for us. To Glenda, Senior teacher, representing Whānau Manaaki  o Tararua association. To Whaea Bea Joblin supporting us today.
Welcome also to our whanau and tamariki – past and present who have come to be with us today.
Kindergarten has a long history  of partnering  with communities. The first free kindergarten opened in NZ more than 100 years ago and the very first one was in Wellington. We have had the responsibility to be a flagship – a service with the mandate to offer equity of access for young children regardless of ability to pay.
In recent times a kindergarten comes into being in a range of ways. Historically it was something that only happened when dedicated families connected with associations and the Department of Education. Families fundraised to get the buildings built. This is no mean task!  You need to plan you are going to need it sometime in the future or be dedicated enough to build it when your child has moved on! This building came in to being in this way in the early 1960’s. Thanks to the establishment committee.
It’s wonderful to have the  support of St Anne’s church  here today at this hui as the Kindergarten operated out of the St Anne’s church hall in the decade prior to the construction of this Kindergarten.  So it seems fitting we have come full circle and can still connect with them today.
Once built a succession of kindergarten committees work tirelessly to fundraise – to develop the environs and resources ( and for a long and  significant time  in the past to keep the lights on and bathroom stocked!)
The things these committees do! My Grandmother  used to regale me withthe tales of the ‘mothers groups’ that dressed up and gave shows full of skits to fundraise at a Kindergarten not so far from here.  Hmmm. We’ll suggest it to the committee perhaps J  My mother had a relatinship with an establishment committee of a kindergarten in this asociation.  
Most of our teaching team has been togetehr a few years now. Our philosohy is to keep on refelcting on how to better our provision. A few yars back we did a peice of significant work in the are of Tūrangawaewae – ouir place to stand.  This work looked at who we are as a community resource – the history of the community, he tangata/the people, the geography, who the knowledge holder are, and connections we could make in th community. We took a very close look inteh area of te ao Māori, our teaching team philosohy, and the notin of our children as citizens or enagers in a bicultural country.  A number of pathways forward formed from this work. One was our entranceway.
We felt ready after being part of this work to look at redeveloping the entranceway as an opportunity to put our flag in the  sand and state to our community who we are – and where we are! A community resource is more accessible if you can find it! J  We wanted to show our sense of mana and identity to the world.  We wanted to show manaaki as our wahatoa structure and the ruru sheltered the families arriving and leaving -  as htey negotiate gates with precious tamariki prams, bags artworks ... you get the picture!
Enter Anne Prescott. Teaching team member and facilitator of this extende project.  Kudos for keeping the faith from yay to nay.  Thank you from us all for all your facilitation!
Anne and the tem worked withthe committees and families that partnered hand in hand with us over th next year or so. They were so supportive, driving fundraisers to help get this work going. They and we worked hard to share our plans with the whānau and they came to the party!  Some gave donations,, some supported fundraisesrs, some gave us words of encouragement and some got involved in the  project. It was so ‘on top’ that one big fundraiser was a calendar with historic pics from our area.
Anne collaborated with AJ Bain. Thanks to AJ for being here today. She was the chairperson and committee member of th kindergarten and shared two precious tamariki with us. She took on a challenge to use her considerable talents to create signage up at street level that resonated with her take on our Kindergrten identity. The signage series is stunning. I shows her ideas about us as a kaitiaki of Tane’s children and keen investigators in the area of science and nature. Her ideas are displayed up by the wharoa and on our blog for all to see. A sort of provenance. Thanks AJ.
Anne worked alongside Vlad Tomescu, Kindergarten Father.  Together they drew plans for the waharoa structure and partnered  withthe association property division and the council to get approvals, contracts, and specifications done – so we could get the main feature build off the ground.   Vlad worked in his spare time to erect teh waharoa. Thanks Vlad.
Anne sourced a carver/artist Ari to work on the carving of the pous and the painted work on the roofline. Ari came along and got a sense of our tūrangawaewae and designed the work. He articulated his ideas for it in print which are also displayed as part of the waharoa. He sends his apologies today. He feels that children opened his work very effectively as he completed it. One of our childrenhad noticed him up the driveway working so hard and called his contemporaries in. They  agreed that Ari was a manuhiri and we needed to go and welcome him – Northland Style. So we did! Tihei Mauriora!
We engaged with a local carver who gifted the space a stone carving with a family based message after coming along one day to have a play and a korero with us.
Anne joined a fruit tree intiative so that we had a plant in the driveway design that signalled our intention to support care aof papatuanuku and sustainability as per Te Tiriti O Waitangi ideas.
Thanks to Brndan Millar for working so hard clearing scrib at the top of the driveway so the teaching team could spend time in the term break creating the gardent ehre.
Anne and Ann got busy sourcing artwork to reflect our environs emphasis on birds as part of our geographical tūrangawaewae adn love of science and naure. Our three large birds are the result.
Thanks to the current families who engaged in a working bee earlier inthe year to install the stone gardens, the edging and plant all the plants the teahing team had amassed.
And then we get to today. Anne and the lovely Erin Dawbin ( Kindergarten parent of two current pounamu of the Kindergarten ) have partnered to ensure we open and bless the waharoa with a ceremony they have designed to reflect the kindergarten community and the philosophy of our Kindergarten identity.  Thanks to Erin for sharing her expertise in te ao Māori, her manaaki, her connections,  your rangatiratanga, as well as energy, enthusiasom and wananga.
Thanks also to Amelia for sharing her parents Erin and Fraser to provide coffee today. Bliss!  Thanks to all the families who have taken time out to come along, to bring children who don’t usually attend Tuesday to be part of our tangata whenua, those who brought some past grads to visit, to bake and to share fellow ship. Thanks! It’s great to see you!
We invite you to offer a round of applause to our tangata whenua, the tamariki who welcome everyone today in such an enthusiastic way. Thanks for all your practicing and hard work, for your Māui Mohio ( expertise) and Māui – toa ( bravery) sharing what you know in front of an audience. Thansk for our Rangatiria who volunteered to Hongi too, and to  Judith our student for being a practice manuhiri many times! J
Matariki is a time of new beginnings and so it’s fitting we celebrate this work now.
If we have proved one thing in this hwole journey it is this: He aha te maea nui o te ao He tāngata, He tāngata, He Tāngata. What is the most important thing in the world? It is People, It is people, It is people!
In so many cutures – breaking bread is a great way to get to know each other, renew acquaintances, enjoy fellow ship. Athanks for putting up with the spiel. We are ready for kai! As we eat and chat, don’t forget to check the provenance of the waharoa, and in the gated grounds check the rt work the children did about tūrangawaewae at the start of the project on the boundary fences. It was part of the development of the pepeha song you heard today.
For our tamriki – thanks for listening, we’ll be able to go and play now or have some kai with our families.
We’ll give the floor to Bea Joblin who is an extended member of our whānau – thanks for providing a karakia kai to get the ball rolling
Thanks!



Our front fence signage... provenance!










 I know those of you who are part of our Kindergarten whānau will be monitoring the progress in our entranceway area. We are so excited ! We want the entrance way to be warm and welcoming. We want people to be able to find us easily, and to be out of the rain and wind as they negotiate our uppermost gates.  As you can see the upper artwork has been affixed to both sides of the roof. Are Karati- our artist came along and got the 'feel' and mana of our tūrangawaewae before going away and designing his work for us.  When he brought it back Thanked us for the 'opportunity and trust you have given me to illuminate the feeling of being here." He describes us as being "nestled, tucked away and embraced - brought to life by the many children/ mokopuna, and nurtured, guided, cared for by the parents, caregivers, brothers, sisters, mums and dads, uncles, aunties, grandparents......Yes a nest - no doubt".  He hopes  that the artwork will be enjoyed and shares that he worked on it with his sons... Onyx, Areroa and Dony.... and that it was fun to make!
Are describes the gateway as the Whaia/Mum.  He created the carvings to represent and celebrate  our place here at kindergarten in the 'nest of life' - what is precious to us and why we love what we do.
He says " As we exit the nest the design and placement of shapes and colours is weaving". We connect with this as teachers as our curriculum"Te Whāriki" is about weaving curriculum.
He describes the centre peice as Ruru - Manu Kaitiaki..... a guardian bird. How appropriate!









 It's always fun to find out how art projects happen..... and how our local tūrangawaewae is developed. Our children really enjoyed observing Ari the carver working on our entranceway project in action. As a group of learners we had lots of questions about the tools he used and he explained a lot to us about what each image meant to him as an artist connecting with our Kindergarten environs. He's also made a very different type of art work to the be added to the front of the entryway 'whare' which he has written down his reasoning for..... one of our tamariki with a great sense of being the people who welcome manuhiri ( visitors) tells all his friends and Kaiako we have to get up there together to welcome him with 'tihei mauriora' and 'the Northland Kindergarten song'. He's absolutely right- so we do! great work being fab tangata whenua my friends...........











In 2017 the community took our love for our history to the fundraising forum..... here's a calendar which is flying out the doors to fund todays kindergarten, based on pics of our area from the past. Kind of cool when you think about it.....



It takes a community to achieve building a Kindergarten.... 

This is a song which is part of our culture and practice a Kindergarten... where the children acknowledge their place - some of their favourite features of the area and the way our kindergarten came to be.


Here's some of our historical story artefacts......

Planning a Kindergarten.... 1949 and 1950 - operating a Kindergarten out of St Anne's Church





Planning a Kindergarten..... 1960


coming soon! drawing 6.12.1963 in Evening post





 opening a  new site!



developing  the site has been ongoing ever since!

building a playground 2002






  and the inside has had some make overs too....


getting ready for the bathroom and kitchen renovations,


Watch this space for more historical pics! thanks to all the families who have been part of our development since the late 1940's! We appreciate your hard work which is feeding forward for all our precious children...

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