June 28, 2017
Kohanga shows leadership
Strong intergenerational connections and sharing of roles and knowledge has earned Rotorua's Te Kohanga Reo Ki Rotokawa the leadership award at this year’s Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards.
It shared the tohu with William Colenso College in Hawke’s Bay.
Tiria Shaw, who was one of the first mokopuna when the kohanga opened in 1984 and is now a kaiako, says Rotokawa has strong intergenerational links.
Whanau stay connected after their tamariki move on, and those original mokopuna now bring their own tamariki.
What stood out for judges was whanau leadership.
"We're not run by a board of trustees or a principal. It is a whanau-driven kaupapa run by parents so as such we all have to step up and learn different roles and the way it worked for us was to share those roles, teaching each other, the tuakana-teina thing, teaching new roles to different parents, roles we learned from our kaumatua, so it was passed down the generations," Ms Shaw says.
The supreme winner was Manurewa Intermediate, which also won the excellence in engaging section.
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