Mihi Whakatau (Informal Welcome)

We always welcome new whānau to our school through a traditional Māori process called a mihi whakatau. This starts just after 9am on the first day of each term. All whānau members are more than welcome to attend, even if they aren’t new to our school.

• We will have the paepae (seats) set up in the quad between the pool and the classrooms for tangata whenua (staff) and the children all sit on the steps. Men in front and Ladies in behind. The paepae for the manuhiri (new whānau) will face them.
• Our whaikorero (speaker) for the manuhiri will be a parent representative or one of the male members of staff can stand in. They will wait with all of our new whānau at the flagpole and will bring them on to the paepae.
• Tangata whenua will remain standing as our manuhiri enter and take their seat but remain standing until the whaikorero for the tangata whenua sits and everyone will sit once they sit.
• The whaikorero will stand up and speak on behalf of our kura in Te Reo Māori and will welcome our new whānau. The tangata whenua will stand as soon as they are finished and sing a waiata tautoko (song to support) what they have said. They will signal for everyone to sit.
• The whaikorero from the manuhiri will then stand up and return the korero (speech) to the school. The rest of the manuhiri will stand up and tautoko what has been said by singing a waiata, which is usually Te Aroha.
• The manuhiri will sit down and the whaikorero will place down a koha (gift) and acknowledge that they come in peace, placing it in the middle between the two paepae.
• The tangata whenua will go and retrieve the koha and will welcome our new whānau to come across to the tangata whenua side of the paepae
• They will invite the manuhiri to come across to us and seal this with a hongi (pressing of the noses) with adults if they are comfortable and high fives/fist bumps with the tamariki.
• We then all go and get our brain food snack and return to the quad to share some kai together to help us move from the heightened spiritual state to a state of noa (normality). New whānau come to the staffroom to share kai together. 

Karakia (Incantation)

The purpose of karakia is to set the correct mauri (vibe) for the day. Doing this first thing in the morning brings a sense of noa (peace) and this is called a karakia timatanga. Finishing the day with karakia resets the mauri and ensures everyone gets home safe. This is called a karakia whakamutunga. In the morning, the karakia is always followed by a waiata (song) to give it mana (presence). It is usually done altogether in the quad during our morning hui (meeting). Before our children eat their food they will always do a karakia kai to bless this as well. 

Kapa Haka (Traditional Māori Song and Dance)

Turitea School has a kapa haka every Wednesday morning run by Whaea Tūrehu Simon-Mokai (Ngā Paerangi, Te Atihaunui a Pāpārangi, Ngāpuhi rāua ko Ngāti Tūwharetoa). In these sessions, ākonga learn waiata and haka to perform at various events each term. One of our main performances is our annual Te Pae Tamariki festival at the Regent, which is usually in Mid-Late June. 

Te Puna Reo (Māori Language Programme)

Our goal is to speak Te Reo Māori (The Māori Language) for at least 3 hours per week. We use the online programme called Te Puna Reo to help us achieve this. We follow their level one overview for our whole school. For 2025, we will have some classrooms using their level two content