January 27, 2022
Reo interest grows on North Shore
Westlake Boys High School on Auckland’s North Shore has welcomed the first batch of 23 students to its new rumaki reo bilingual unit.
Matua Johnny Waititi says the school has a goal to increase its capacity to teach te reo Māori, and it’s planning on having 100 tauira by 2024.
He says since he started teaching at the school in 2016 the percentage of Māori enrolled has tripled to 10 per cent.
“There’s a group of students that come to the school every year that will be invested in tikanga, te reo, and being Māori and operating as a Māori so it’s new for the school but we have put plans in place to help our school cope with and adapt and also embrace the rūmaki unit,” he says.
Johnny Waititi says there is also keen interest from many non-Māori wanting to learn te reo.