Kia ora, I'm Di Rump from Muaūpoko Tribal Authority
About a year ago, we got the opportunity through our partnership with the Ministry of Education
To look at an accelerated achievement programme for Māori achieving as Māori
That evolved into a programme that we did with East School called Tūngia te Koingo, which stands for 'lighting the flames of yearning and learning'
What we were invited to do was 'Muaūpoko-ify' it
So normally it's a series of four to five workshops, where parents and tamariki get together, and talk about and learn about how to read and enjoy reading together.
What we were invited to do was to make sure that that was a programme that our whānau and our tamariki would enjoy as Māori, and as Muaūpoko
So, when we spoke to them, what they wanted was to be able to do that programme in their own space,
so we made the programme just a bit longer,
we started at the marae, and we haven't quite finished it, we'll be ending at the marae,
and we found some significant spaces and places throughout our rohe, that we've run our session in every week.
I think it was about 68 kids, or 66 kids, at our first wananga that we had at Kawiu marae,
and even though it was full-on, in terms of preparation and personnel to help the structure of the wanangas,
the best thing for me – because my grandson, my moko was part of it as well, – was that all of the kids absolutely loved it.
One of the real strengths of it was not having it on the school site, and seeing the way that the parents and the whānau actually got involved,
when we were on the marae. So, having that first meeting on the marae made a huge difference.
I think the biggest impact with partnering up with the Muaūpoko Tribal Authority, is that it's helping the wider whānau feel more at ease.
They have an understanding of the way schools do things, and of the way iwi do things,
and so being able to draw on those different understandings helps to engage with them a lot better.
Some people have barriers, or they have concerns, and that inhibits them from actively engaging with their children's learning.
and so having that iwi partnership is giving them that sense of...
It's almost a sense of ease – 'oh, my iwi's involved, this is at my marae, so it feels ok to do this.
So, the liaison with Di and Muaūpoko Tribal Authority has meant that we're in and out of each other's space more, so they're not becoming each other's space – they're becoming our spaces. And that's huge.
We really noticed the spin-off because I had a little guy in my class - I've got Year 4s that attended the programme, and haringa and other things
and we were having a conversation the other day, and I said to him, "how is it down at Makomako Road?", and he said, "Miss, it's Makomako".
And I'm like, "well, thank you for that. Thanks for helping me with my pronunciation."
Then he goes, "That's ok, but I like it best when I'm out at the beach, and the sun goes down, and I see my mountain, and I see my river, and I"m so proud."
And they only learned that through that programme, him learning about who he is and where he's from
And you could see it - "that's my mountain, and that's my river." It was pretty amazing.
With this programme, we've learned that it's ok for them to make mistakes, and ways of dealing with that.
But my son's reading has really, really improved since being on this programme.
My daughter also gets those benefits, and now my little brother, because we all do it together. It's really, really engaged all of us, not just targeted my son.
I think that the key difference in a lot of other situations is that the parents are on board, and that they're happy to ask questions.
They're comfortable enough to ask questions, and I don't think they feel like they're being preached to, or taught.
The parents and the wider whānau – because we've got grandparents coming in – they're seeing that it's not a matter of teaching the kids
it's about being a relaxed situation with the reading, it's about sitting down and having conversations
And therefore they understand that's something they can do..
They can do that, they're not being asked to teach.
The Reading Together [programme] would be great if Muaūpoko could pick that up and run with it, right across the iwi.
But also the concept of the Tūngia te Koingo model, where everyone's jumping to help each other out, with the kid simply being absolutely what it's all about,
And there's some serious discussion around that at different times, we don't always agree,
but it just brings you back to the right place, so if we could have that model running wider and for longer,
there's no doubt our kids will achieve, whatever achievement looks like.
With Leah, when she struggles with something – and she really did struggle with maths – she can give up really easily
and just, 'oh well, I'm no good at it so I'm not going to try', and before this programme that was her.
I'm not saying that now she's an exceptional mathematician, because she still does struggle,
But her being on this programme has opened her up to trying, she doesn't give up, she pushes herself to try and find the answer, and she's still there giving it her all. So to me that's huge.
What's happening is that whānau are not only engaging with school and with education more, but they're engaging with each other, and as a result of that we've had a flow-on effect into the community as well.
Our tamariki and our whānau, grandparents, parents, people of all ages, and even some of our whānau who aren't directly involved in the programme
are being brave enough to come and have a say about what they think about education, and what their gaps and what their goals are.
So that can only be good for us taking ownership of educational outcomes, for our whānau and our community.
I reckon I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to exceeding expectations. But this has become way more than any of us ever expected it to be.
We have our tamariki who have grown together – the 40 to 60 Muaūpoko tamariki that are at Levin East school – they self-regulate their behaviour, they look after each other,
They're so proud to be Muaūpoko, they know everything about this land, and their place in it.
Their stories have now become part of the curriculum, their artwork has now become part of the history of the school.
You can sense it: there's a group of tamariki who will forever – and I mean that sounds a bit over the top, but I'm telling you – be bound together
by this experience, and that's what the parents are seeing as well. So it's not just been about them achieving as Māori – it's exactly what the objective of this programme is
which is 'achieving as Māori'. That's the bit that's made the difference.