MPA Term 3 Meeting - TE KURO O NGĀ TAPUWAE

 On Thursday 29 August the MPA had their term 3 meeting at Te Kura o Ngā Tapuwae.  This was quite an event for many of the Principals in attendance as it was their first time in the school.

Ngā Tapuwae has a very long history in Māngere.  The Principal, Airhia Stirling, has been Principal there for 28 years and the MPA had the privilege of hearing the stories of the school; where it comes from, how it got its name and what it means.  The Tainui iwi connection and the gifts bestowed in the names of education are strongly connected to Ngā Tapuwae and many others schools in the Mangere area.   The turmoil and adversity encountered through colonialism and racism, the stories over time that have led this amazing school to be a leading light in Māngere, achieving amongst the highest academic results in Aotearoa and consistently high attendance rates.  

The school's physical environment is stunning, with the new build completed in 2020, the school is made up of very modern learning spaces.  We had a tour of the school from top to bottom, each space being very deliberately planned and built with students and learning at the heart.  The environment is a true reflection of the community it serves and students were warm and welcoming and obviously proud of their school.  Our pohiri on to the Marae was beautiful and the association was strongly supported by our local iwi, Ngati Tahinga Wilson and Davika Wilson, of Te Ahirwaru.

I personally deeply appreciated the sharing from Arihia and left feeling a sense of triumph and hope for the students, staff and whanau - past, present and future.

Following our pohiri and school tour, we shared kai and settled in for our termly meeting.  To kick off our meeting, we were joined by our MOE Director Deidre Alderson.  Deidre led us through some of the initiatives the government were implementing and unpacked the expectations of these.  She listened to our concerns regarding the rapidity of change and the lack of collaboration between the sector in informing the new curriculum being introduced.  There were also concerns expressed regarding the lack of resourcing and support for students with high needs in schools.  This is ongoing and exacerbated by the push for more change over a short period of time.  We are worried about burnout.

After Deidre and her team left, we had a brief discussion on the MPAs position in regards to the government changes and vision for education moving forward.  Principals expressed their concerns on more specific areas and it was agreed that a media statement was to be formed, agreed upon and sent out by the president on behalf of the association.

Next to present at our meeting was Mary Aue who is leading the MPA 'Back to School' campaign.  Mary is developing a multi-media, multi-generational campaign, reaching out to our community, growing relationships and pushing our back to school messaging in multiple languages.  MPA are really looking forward to seeing this campaign take off.

Lastly our local manuhiri and iwi representatives Stephanie Tawha and Davika Wilson from Te Ahiwaru shared their current data and the programme of work they are carrying out with whanau in our community.  There is much to be done in terms of helping whanau during tough times and Te Ahiwaru are doing amazing mahi in this space.