Waharoa for St Mary’s: gateway carving represents blend of te ao Māori and Catholic faith

St Mary’s waharoa (gateway) was blessed in a ceremony last week. Principal Helen McGuigan (left back) and deputy principal Sarah Aperahama are pictured at the gateway with students, (second row from left) Arla Rutherford, Cyrus Newman, Laney Purnell, Leitu Key, Ryan Jung and Rithwik Chandra. In front are, from left, Kymani Tamatea, Nehoa Katoa, James Blake, Emmie Fitzharris-Stevens, Connor Scott, Ruby Murray, Avelyn Liju, Chloe Stevens and Izis Muir. Picture by Paul Rickard

A waharoa (gateway) at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School has been created to represent the school’s history and coming together of te ao Māori and the Catholic faith. 

The waharoa was carved by multi-disciplinary artist Simon Lardelli who helped Campion College with its waharoa last year.

It features tīpuna Kiwa and Paoa, and the two waka Horouta and Tākitimu and at the top is a tekoteko that blends te ao Māori with the school’s special character. It has three J symbols that represent the Josephite nuns and Jesus, Joseph and John the Baptist. A dove represents the holy spirit and there is a silhouette  of St Mary.

A blessing ceremony on Thursday morning involved the Catholic faith and te ao Maori.

“For all who enter our school underneath this taonga of a waharoa, they will know that they are entering both a school in Aotearoa New Zealand and a Catholic School,” principal Helen McGuigan said.

It is made of totara, and students were a part of the mahi helping with painting, measuring and learning about the carving process.

The journey to get the waharoa had been five years long, said deputy principal Sarah Aperahama.

“Over the last five years, we have been learning local pūrākau, local stories, and have been really well supported by Te Rūnanganui o Tūranganui a Kiwa (TROTAK) to learn. As we were learning these pūrākau and teaching them to students, we realised there was a lot of mana in these stories and could see that the students could articulate and talk about them a lot more,” Mrs Aperahama said.

The school decided to base their graduate profile on tīpuna of the area — Paoa, Kiwa, Hinehakirirangi, Hineakua and Kahutuanui. Aspects of these tīpuna lined up with the school’s learning dispositions that were crafted by whānau, students and staff.

Graduate profiles describe skills, knowledge, and attitudes that students will need to develop in order to participate in a range of life contexts beyond school.

“We have been working on bringing the school’s pepeha to life, (which is) one of our strategic goals. We don’t want it to be a document sitting on a shelf. We want it to be something our akonga (students) can kōrero about,” she said.

The process to build the waharoa involved students, staff, and whānau of the school who shared their ideas and what they thought should be included.

“When the tauira (learners) walk through they are getting filled with the holy spirit, the local pūrākau and knowledge being instilled in them.”

The school thanked Simon Lardelli for taking on the project and helping the school, TROTAK for their support, and Campion College.

“This is a taonga for many generations to come.”