Wellington High School launches Ngā Kōrero o Neherā on 14 May 2013 at Taraika, the school’s meeting house.
He mihi nui tenei ki te mana whenua o te Whanganui a Tara.
Ki a koutou te iwi o Te Āti Awa, tēnā koutou mo ngā manaakitanga o mātou o te Haikura o te Whanganui a Tara.
Tēnā koutou mo ngā tautoko i te kaupapa o neherā, e pā ana ki tēnei rohe i whakatakotohia e Michael Harcourt.
Congratulations to Wellington High School teacher Michael Harcourt who has been working closely with the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (the Trust) on a groundbreaking collaborative project.
Ngā Kōrero o Neherā inspires students to engage with local indigenous stories in a new way. “These are stories which are often subsumed by grand narratives. We will be pulling history out of the classroom and putting it into the landscape,” according to Michael Harcourt, lead teacher on the project. “Our students will be given the responsibility to represent different stories about the place they inhabit and our teachers’ competencies will deepen as they engage with manaakitanga and tangatawhenuatanga in a local way.”
Ben Tangaere, head of Te Reo Māori at Wellington High, supports and values Harcourt’s work. “We owe congratulations to Michael who has worked closely with the Trust to develop this project.”
“Wellington High School is honoured to be working with the Trust on this significant development in cooperation and understanding of the history of our whenua,” says Nigel Hanton, Principal of Wellington High. “The opportunity for students, staff and the school community to engage in cultural learning of this type is unique, and will create the foundation of strong and sustainable relationships with the kura whānau and the tangata whenua. We are excited by the potential offered in this agreement,” says Nigel Hanton.