Ka Hikitia  What?  Teaching practice idea: Maori students, whanau and educators sharing knowledge and expertise with each other to produce better mutual outcomes.  Why? To improve whanau – school partnerships To demonstrate that education is worthwhile, relevant and connected to student life goals and contexts. To develop our students as life long learners.

First Steps  Awareness of diverse cultural backgrounds  Identified parents with early developed expertise that became a life long passion and vocation.  Worked with and learned from these successful parents What we did

What Came Out of This  An understanding of differences  Huge pride  Emotional impact of Wiremu’s mihi  Increased communication with parents  A class focus on Matariki  Each student created 3 diverse pieces of art  Lead to work in other curriculum areas  Opportunities to draw from their own cultural backgrounds

Where to Next?  Parent support for Maori Technology using Flax  Parent support for Te Reo learning  Continuing written sharing of what we are doing  Further communication around parent support for children’s learning