The head of te reo at Westlake Girls High School says a new whare wānanga will help Māori students at the North Shore school be proud of their Māoritanga.
Eddie Hudson says the mauri for the new space was laid last week, and work will start in the next couple of weeks to convert the former staffroom into a space where mana wahine can be explored and celebrated.
About 7 percent of the school’s 2200 pupils are Maori and they’re looking forward to a space they can call their own.
Mr Hudson says mana whenua iwi Ngāti Paoa is helping with the design.
“It’ll be a place where we will have our poupou will be our atua wahine, and it’ll be connected through our tāhūhū and our heke through our Matariki. It’s just going to be a fantastic opportunity for our local primary schools and intermediates to come along and learn about the history of Ngāti Paoa inside that wharenui, as well as our house stories, which will reflect the history of the North Shore,” he says.
Eddie Hudson says Westlake Girls is also proud to have an entrant in the senior Maori section of the regional Ngā Manu Kōrero ki Te Waitemataa competition, which will be held on Friday at Ngā Puna Wai-ō-Rea – Western Springs High School.
