Parents learning to share in education

Whanau Komiti chairwoman Tiare Para and Kaikohe Intermediate head boy Tihei Mataira hongi in front of a mural which depicts the pair exchanging hongi. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Kaikohe school is using art, cooking and te reo classes to encourage parents to become more involved in their children's education.

Kaikohe Intermediate's Ma Te Iwi programme is based on the saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and aims to draw families into school life.

To draw them in, and keep them there, the school's Te Herenga Whanau Komiti has organised a series of innovative programmes for parents.

The most visible of those is a mural project run in conjunction with the acclaimed Kaitaia artist Theresa Reihana and the tertiary education provider Te Wananga o Aotearoa. The finished murals were unveiled last month.

Whanau Komiti chair Tiare Para said the aim of Ma Te Iwi was to encourage parents into the school to engage with teachers and their children.

The mural programme consisted of two art courses of five weekends each. The courses were limited to about 20 places with priority given to parents of current children. The murals had been designed by the students with guidance from Ms Reihana.

The adult students on the first course created a mural around the school foyer depicting local landmarks such as Lake Omapere and its tuna (eels), the maunga (mountain) Putahi, Aperahama Church and Kotahitanga Marae. A freestanding mural depicts a Ngati Whakaeke kuia sharing a hongi with head boy Tihei Mataira. At Tihei's feet is his dog Muka, which came to school almost every day until it was sadly run over last year.

Mrs Para said Muka used to wander from classroom to classroom and brought a lot of happiness to the children. The much-loved pet is buried on the school grounds. The mural symbolised the old and the new coming together, she said.

The second course created a mural at the front of the school with the word kaitiakitanga (guardianship) against a Kaikohe landscape, flanked by traditional and contemporary manaia (guardian) figures. It signifies the local hapu's role as guardians over the school.

Mrs Para said Ma Te Iwi was making parents comfortable about coming to school and engaging with children and teachers.

"When the kids see them at school they might act staunch, but they're proud to see their parents there," she said.

Another programme, meals on a shoestring, was geared at young mothers who lacked cooking skills.

On day one they learned how to prepare a simple, cheap and nutritious meal; on day two they cooked it for the entire school.

"We want to bring back kotahitanga (togetherness) where we all help each other, like the village did back in the old days," she said.

Other programmes include literacy/numeracy classes and te reo classes. Thirty-five adults, mainly teachers from other schools in Kaikohe and Tautoro, are currently studying te reo. Ma Te Iwi is sponsored by Te Puni Kokiri (formerly the Ministry of Maori Development).