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
coming soon! drawing 6.12.1963 in Evening post
opening a new site!
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