Kura students travel to Waitangi for hands-on learning experience

Maungatapu School students Uenuku Wharekera, Bonjean Gardiner, Te Ngaio Ririnui and Kobe Keti were enjoying the cool water near Waitangi on Wednesday. The group were part of 34 students who had travelled up from Tauranga for Waitangi 2025. Photo / Brodie Stone

Thirty-four students from a Tauranga kura have travelled more than 365km to experience Waitangi first-hand this year.

Te Kura o Maungatapu deputy principal Teraania Ormsby said being there was the best way for students to learn about the Te Titiri but also current politics.

“If you involve tamariki in their world through all their senses - which is a very Māori method of educating, they will be engaged because they want to be.”

Ormsby‘s students - from Year 1 until Year 8 - spent the morning reaching out to influencers, politicians and people “with the power to make change”.

“[Students] were asking them the tough questions only they can ask.”

Ormsby said it was important her students led the learning process.

“As an enquiry teacher you guide, you scaffold, and then you step back.”

Concerning the impact of the Treaty Principles Bill on their students, Ormsby said it was vital they understood the politics behind it all.

“I get comments from mainstream teachers to say keep the kids out of politics. But Māori education was born from politics, you cannot separate the two.”

Informing them properly would help her students to become self-determined, stand up for themselves and have a strong sense of identity, Ormsby said.

“It’s also teaching them that there’s power in the word but there’s also power in the pen.

“So they know their [Treaty Principles Bill submissions] went somewhere.”

It had been a busy morning - but they spent much of the early afternoon popping manus off the bridge leading to Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

“You can’t come to the most famous bridge in the world without jumping off,” Ormsby joked.

Her son Te Arepa was also attending commemorations with his children.

He had jumped off the bridge a few times and his son, Te Kaaio, was doing the same.

Te Kaaio, of Tauranga, was enjoying the Waitangi bridge on Wednesday. Photo / Brodie Stone

Te Arepa said Waitangi was the perfect place for connection between both Māori and Pākehā, and feel welcome doing it.

“I’m keen to support the kaupapa and support our tamariki coming in to learn the history about the place.”

Te Arepa said he would likely join the hīkoi planned from Te Tii Marae to Te Whare Rūnanga tomorrow.

“I think if we stand together as one there’s more power in numbers for Parliament to realise what is going on and how it’s affecting us.”

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.