Owairaka School pepeha

Owairaka Primary School is an inspiring place where we value learning, the environment and other cultures.

Owairaka School has a ‘You can do it’ attitude to learning. When we (students) make a mistake we try again. We do this through 'Getting along, being confident, being persistent and being organised'. These are the four foundation keys to having success at school.

Owairaka School is an Enviroschool. Owairaka Primary School has an orchard that children who don’t have lunch can eat in the future. Owairaka School has lots of gardens. One garden is the Rongoa garden. It has medicinal plants in it. We learned about some of the uses of different Māori medicine that we have in our Rongoa garden. Our Rongoa garden is situated beside Ngā Ringa Awhina which is our place of learning Te Reo Māori and Kapa Haka. This is a very important part of our environment and displays our respect for our Māori culture.

Classes complete Enviro projects. Our project is creating a school pepeha because we didn't have one and the information we need for it has been lost. We have found out that a pepeha represents your identity and your connection to the land. We know that there are specific parts involved in making the Pepeha. We know our mountain is Owairaka. Our river/awa is Te Puna Wai-inu-roa o Wairaka. Our school is Owairaka. These are some of our important places that will be in the Pepeha. To gain more information about the Māori tikanga we brought in local experts and asked for permission to use names within our pepeha creation.

Owairaka gives honourable memories to our wahine toa, tupuna Wairaka. It is a jubilant place, where children of all cultures will continue to adore the stories and to learn more about our courageous Tangata Whenua, Wairaka.

In her words, "KIA WHAKATANE AU I AHAU" Let me act as a man!