Welcome to 2023!

We're back! Settling into the new year and developing positive relationships amongst the group was our focus for the first few days. We have focused on the strengths of Teamwork and manaakitanga. 

Soon, we will be launching into an Inquiry investigating our local marine environments. We will be helping to trial and develop a programme in conjunction with Worser Bay Boat Club, Otago University Marine Science department and others. The programme is called Moana Mana and will involve a lot of hands-on learning in the intertidal zone as well as research and experimentation in the classroom. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work alongside real scientists and to have a positive impact on our environment. Year 5-6 students will also have snorkelling opportunities as well as some sailing connected with this learning.

Alongside this will be an Arts project whose purpose is to mark our school site as the former Whetūkairangi Pā. We will be working with artist in residence, Kimi Moana Whiting up until June, by which time we will have some significant sculptural pieces completed. Again, we will be looking to the natural world for inspiration.

Motukairangi Kapa Haka Festival 2021

The Kapa Haka festival was really fun. Wellington East Girl's College and Rongotai College (Ngā Taiohi o Te Rāwhiti) started it with an opening ceremony, then after the presenter's speech they shared their item. After that, Kahurangi school came up and shared an awesome item, and since they were the only other full school, there were so many of them! We were on third, and it felt really good to get it done so soon. It felt like just one minute, but our item was supposed to be five! There were a ton of other schools after that, including Miramar North School, Miramar Central School, Lyall Bay School, Evans Bay Intermediate School and Hataitai School. Once all the schools had shared, Everyone sung Matariki and Toia Mai on the seats they were on, and the thudding of feet on the floor and 1800 voices all across the room all singing was awesome. It felt so good to hear and see everyone singing and doing one song altogether in unison. I especially liked when we did the haka part, because different people were doing different parts of the song, and the fact that everyone knew their part in the song was great. It felt so good about doing something with different people who we might never have met, without clarifying that everyone knew what to do, but everyone did know what to do.
- Will J

We have worked so hard on our performance over the past few months. The mana and ihi in Te Whānau o Whetūkairangi's performance was palpable! Here's an explanation of the meaning behind each part of our item:

• 'Noho ake au' (Mōteatea/Chant) - This chant speaks of tangata whenua, the tribes of Ngāi Tara and Ngāti Ira. The founding ancestors of these tribes and our treasured Pā site, Whatonga and his son, Taranihoniho are acknowledged. Tara's mother, Hotuwaipara is also mentioned.
• 'Utaina' (Waita-a-ringa/Action song) - This song is about paddling a waka in unison. We uplift the canoe, the canoe uplifts us. I a, ha, ha!
• 'Ko Te Upoko o Te Ika' - (Haka) - Our school haka, speaking of Whetūkairangi's position atop Motukairangi (Miramar) at the "head of the fish of Māui" (Wellington). Kupe's pursuit of the wheke (octopus) and our maunga, Tangi Te Keo (Mt Vic) are mentioned too. We look to the stars, Autahi, Tautoru, Māhutonga, Mataraiki, the family of Worser Bay School.
• 'Hutia te Rito' - (Waiata) - Our finale is a metaphor, it speaks of how pulling the centre shoot from the harakeke (flax plant) will stunt the growth of the species. He aha te mea nui o te ao? What is the most important thing in the world? Māku e ki atu ki a koe, He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. I say to you, it is people, it is people, it is people.

Ngā Kōrero ō Mua - Stories of the Past

Motukairangi History Walk

This term we have been getting stuck into a new Inquiry, Ngā Kōrero ō Mua / Stories of the Past. While a new NZ History curriculum is being implemented across the motu, we are really proud of the learning we had already been doing, especially around the Treaty of Waitangi, Polynesian Navigation and the rich history of our places - Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Whetūkairangi. 

We started off by thinking about what history is and how it's recorded. How much of it is just plain wrong?

We're really lucky to have an excellent vantage point up here on Seatoun Heights Road, for imagining the past. Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the Great Harbour of Tara. How would it have looked 800 years ago?

Our peninsula history walk has become an annual experience. Each time we build a little further on our knowledge of Māori history through stories such as Ngake & Whataitai and Kupe & the Giant Wheke. This time we added the story of Hutia Kākāriki Pā at the bottom of Awa Road. Ask us what we learnt! Our scavenger hunt also encouraged us to look a little closer at post-contact history including the Wahine Memorial and Fort Dorset.

Thinking about the strategic placement of Fort Dorset and Ōruaiti Pā

We are also exploring history through our reading programme. Take a look at this term's Literacy Links document which is full of useful and interesting sources.

Reading about the New Zealand gold rush in Bright Fine Gold.

We'll continue covering the stories of our past through Literacy and Inquiry learning. We're also very excited to head over to Wellington Museum next month to take part in the Te Upoko o Te Ika programme. Ko Te Upoko o Te Ika e tangi nei, ko Whetūkairangi e tangi nei!

Design Project for Whetūkairangi Pā Worser Bay School.

WE are excited about the design work we have completed which brings our Inquiry to an end for the year.  There have been so many incredibly creative ideas developed during the last week and all of them are based on a really good understanding of the history of our school site. 

We have identified the site where we want to build, the materials we will be working with and what it will look like when completed.  

The work has then been developed into prototype sculptures.