Northland kura creates first te reo Maori iTunes resources

Ngarimu Pera from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Whangaroa which created the first iTunes resources in te reo Maori. Photo/Supplied

A full immersion Maori school in Northland has developed the first te reo Maori iTunes resources to support an exhibition at the National Library of New Zealand.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Whangaroa, in Matauri Bay, created five learning resources - which include iBooks, videos and interactive activities - to support He Tohu, an exhibition in Wellington of the country's key constitutional documents, including He Whakaputanga (Declaration of Independence), Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the Women's Suffrage Petition.

The resources were designed to support te reo speakers in learning more about those key documents.

"We're excited," said Anahera Pomare, principal of the kura.

"We were quite surprised as a kura to see it all up, we've been working on this for a long time, and then to fathom this could be accessed internationally."

The resources were developed by the school and wider community with the needs of schools that teach in te reo Maori at the forefront

The resources include:

An iBook called Tino Rangatiratanga, which describes the experiences of the Whangaroa people starting with the realisation that huge change was imminent in the early 1800s and finishes with the establishment of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Whangaroa.

Te Wakaminenga, a course which looks at sovereignty from the perspective of collective action which gave rise to the United Tribes, the strong symbolism of Te Kara (the United Tribes flag) and its origins.

Te Kara, which asks why the symbol was adopted and what it means now.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which describes the events around February 1840 and puts the student into the context their ancestors found themselves in as they were asked to sign the Treaty.

And He Toa, which looks at the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition and provides the context for students to consider sovereignty from the perspective of gender equality.

"We're talking about local content and local knowledge which is really meaningful. It's about our learning experience and building that on the students' understanding and what knowledge they're aware of in their community."

Ms Pomare said the school had moved to Apple products and Apple Education provided training for teachers and whanau to use the applications to create learning courses and digital books.

"This has given our kids the confidence and also us. It's been a two-pronged thing, it's benefited our students, community and curriculum."

Ms Pomare said because the school is in a rural area and some whanau do not have internet, the kura was looking at ways to make the resources more accessible.