Mt Te Karioi, the maunga of the area
It’s just 46 kilometres out of Hamilton but the difference between the big city and the little coastal community of Raglan is profound. On arrival one’s instinct is to immediately set off on a bush walk, frolic in the estuary or join the local surfers. Raglan is such an alluringly beautiful place. But the bush and the surf must wait. First stop is the local school. It’s time to discover how principal Malcolm Cox manages his 440 students aged five to eighteen and what philosophies of teaching are necessary when accommodating such vastly different learning levels in a bicultural environment. Raglan is located in The Tainui rohe country with a local iwi who have been around even longer than the kingitanga. Principal Malcolm Cox leads the Raglan Area School, and top of his list is making sure that the culture of his school strongly reflects this important history. Visitors to Malcolm’s office are immediately drawn to the prominent large scale lithograph of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, Ngati Mahuta, the first Māori King to take leadership of the Kingitanga movement in 1857. At the foot of the painting sits a photograph of Princess Te Puea. She was the grand-daughter of the second Māori king and distinguished leader in the Kingitanga movement from 1911 who worked closely with Pākehā to achieve true partnership. Alongside Te Puea is a photograph of Dame Te Atairangikaahu, leader of the Kingitanga for forty years until her death in 2006. These visual representations make a strong statement about the importance of Tainui and the centrality of the values of the school. ‘Knowing who we are and where we are from is critical to forming genuine relationships,’ says Malcolm, ‘and in our school that means having a full appreciation of our Māori and pakeha roots. Knowing our history, te reo and tikanga gives us a powerful basis on which to begin our learning journey. Māori culture is central to what we do, how we think and how we operate, because sixty percent of our students identify as Māori and thirty-three percent as NZ European/Pākehā,’ he said. The school fosters close connections with local iwi and
the parent community and the school’s curriculum and character reflect those connections. It follows the values of whakawhanaungatanga which acknowledges whakapapa as the framework that connects people to one another, to generations past and future, and to the wider environment; manaakitanga, which is to show respect, kindness and protection; kaitiakitanga, the managing of the environment, based on a Māori world view and poutama, which refers to seeking pathways to higher learning and skills and doing the best that you possibly can. ‘We don’t want our children coming to school and leaving their Māori culture at the gate. As much as possible we normalise the school into two world views. We don’t for example have kapahaka as a specialist group. All kids and the staff haka and waiata here,’ says Malcolm. Fifty percent of the staff at Raglan are Māori and about half of those staff are fluent in te reo. ‘If we are going to talk about true bi-culturalism and education for life then as leaders and teachers we have to model that,’ says Malcolm, who three years ago enrolled in a Māori visual arts degree specialising in carving. ‘It’s a great way for me to learn more of the reo, and carving creates a record of histories and philosophies,’ he says. ‘I am so lucky to be working with master carvers who have such depth of knowledge. I have learned so much from them,’ he says. Although personally very proud of the waka tūpāpaku or carved burial chest which he made himself, Malcolm plays down his own work and does not give it great prominence in his office. It would seem that in the process of his own studies in Māori visual arts he has also learned much from his instructors about the importance of humility and is loath to promote himself and his achievements. He would far prefer to promote the achievements of his students and there is no shortage of examples, especially in the arts area. Once inside, the main school entrance foyer provides a visual feast. A giant sized tiki hovers over the space, built from
The senior students gather round to learn about Fire Safety
Raglan Area School entrance
the bodies of a couple of old volkswagon cars. ‘Our secondary have children taught in total immersion,’ says Malcolm. ‘We have students developed the concept, designed, cut and welded this the teachers who are fluent in te reo who can lead the immersion together,’ he chuckles. The piece is immediately humorous, programme and we are proud to offer so many of our kids this technically clever and skilfully constructed. opportunity.’ Attached to the immersion classes is a special Māori The mountain of this area or maunga is Karioi and the harbour resource room and teaching space, Te Pūāwaitanga. ‘It is not a or awa is Whaingaroa. These are two highly visible natural marae,’ insists Malcolm, ‘but it performs some similar functions.’ formations. ‘Every student in the school is familiar with the The day I visit, so does the local fire service. They are parked stories associated with the maunga and awa,’ says Malcolm, up outside the school and have brought their instructional unit ‘because they are central to the identity of local Māori.’ to demonstrate fire safety to the senior students. ‘Don’t drink and Karioi presides over the playing fields which sit on a fry,’ ‘Keep looking when you’re cooking’, are messages screaming peninsular around which flows the estuary. It’s time to restore out from the clouds of smoke which the instructors have just the peninsular banks and students have recently built a shade created by demonstrating what not to do! house and developed an area for cultivating native seedlings ‘As an isolated rural school, we rely on people like the fire which in turn will be planted out. Puriri trees will be a feature service to bring their mobile instructional units out to us,’ says since they are a dominant tree in this coastal area, more so than Malcolm. ‘We also depend on a mobile dental clinic and other the pohutukawa commonly found in other coastal areas of New mobile services so that our students don’t miss out,’ he says. The Zealand. ‘We are a silver level enviro school,’ says Malcolm, ‘so next project is to convert the old dental clinic into a student we have some expertise in restoration projects like this. We take services centre which will accommodate six staff including a every opportunity to integrate our enviro principles into the social worker, counsellors, a school nurse RTLB and special curriculum even though we are not funded for a project like the peninsula planting,’ he said. The recycling bins, well maintained school Principal Malcolm Cox has a chat with students from one of the Māori immersion classes gardens and wind turbine are further clues to the school’s commitment to environmental principles. ‘WEL donated and erected the turbine on our school site,’ said Malcolm. ‘It is connected to a school computer system and the performance of the turbine is monitored by our students, as are the solar panels donated by Genesis. It’s a project that can both generate power for the school and NCEA credits for the students,’ he said. As the school lifts its sights to go for the green gold enviro award, more and more green philosophies are invading the classroom planning and documentation. ‘Students talk the talk which is now less about a garden and more about evidence in the actual day to day school work,’ says Malcolm. The school also has a strong commitment to bilingualism through the rumaki unit of four Māori immersion classes, where 70 students are taught in te reo. ‘We are so fortunate that we can respond to the community’s request to
The VW Tiki hovers humorously over the school’s entrance foyer
Art work reflecting Raglan's key physical features
education needs coordinator. ‘It will be great for the students to have all these services in one place on our school site,’ says Malcolm. Whilst many services are brought into the school, for some activities the children have to be transported out. ‘If we want to take our junior kids to the zoo, for example, we have to drive a teacher into Hamilton to get a bus to drive back out to take them there,’ says Malcolm. Isolation from colleagues is another factor which troubles the rural principal. ‘It’s even more difficult for the principal of an area school,’ says Malcolm, ‘because I belong to the national body for area schools, then the primary principals’ body to keep up with issues just affecting primary students, and then for standards alignment I have to work in with secondary colleagues. It’s a complex portfolio.’ Malcolm maintains he could never be master in all areas and praises his teaching staff for their outstanding and consistent commitment and performance. He acknowledges how difficult it is for them to network with their various subject area colleagues and says that networking electronically is no substitute for sharing face to face time with colleagues. ‘Electronic communication is better than nothing but cannot replace sitting down with colleagues to talk over issues and problems or curriculum work,’ he says. ‘For my staff, I have to think differently and am more likely to bring in an expert on
Surfing Academy student Ben Poulter in action
The first Māori King Pōtatau Te Wherowhero dominates the Principal’s Office
curriculum development or literacy or whatever is needed.’ At Raglan School, subject specialists do not sit just in the secondary area of the school. ‘Our subject experts serve all levels in the school including the junior school. They are an asset to our teachers in the juniors because they can provide such excellent advice,’ he says. ‘At the same time our junior school teachers provide leadership in teaching management which helps our secondary teachers.’ The Primary, Middle school and Secondary school areas are often independent of each other because developmentally, the students are often managed differently. They want to keep to their own peer groups.The school is big enough to accommodate separate recreation areas as well as separate classroom blocks. ‘It doesn’t mean that the juniors and seniors are completely segregated,’ says Malcolm, ‘It’s not unusual to see a senior student checking up on a younger brother or sister or cousin and we encourage that,’ he said. ‘The challenge comes with assemblies and trying to speak in the language of five year olds and eighteen year olds concurrently,’ he smiled. In keeping with the value of whakawhanaungatanga, pastoral care takes high priority and Malcolm is well aware of the danger points. ‘The transition from year eight to year nine is a critical shift,’ he explains. ‘Moving from a home class to a specialist driven curriculum with many different teachers each day, is like moving from one family to live with another!’ he says. Malcolm’s philosophy is that families don’t give up on kids so he makes sure that the year nine students are well prepared for the change and are carefully monitored through with extra support. It’s a time when some students could become lost and drop out. This family support concept also extends to suspensions and expulsions. ‘We do not suspend or expel students,’ says Malcolm. ‘We operate a restorative practice model to deal with any disciplinary issues. The aim is to repair the harm caused and restore the relationship. It involves students and whānau and we look for a solution that is positive and sustainable.’ Whakawhanaungatanga further extends to the students in the surfing academy many of whom come from out of town and board with Raglan families during the course of their studies. Raglan is the only school in the country with a surfing academy but as Malcolm says, ‘In Raglan almost every day of the week, all year round there is a surfable wave.’
Te Pūāwaitanga the Māori immersion classes resource room
Larry Fisher, Surfing Academy teacher
The academy is not just about surfing every day however. ‘You come to the academy with two bags – your surf board bag and your school bag,’ says Malcolm. Students take four academic subjects and a double physical education major. The environment, physiology, biology and health nutrition are all part of the double major programme. The academy students also organise and run the NZ Surfing secondary schools competition, in which they do not compete. Raglan students finance the competition through securing sponsorship and earn NCEA credits for event management and judging the competition. The two teachers in the surfing academy, Larry Fisher and Deane Hishon lead by example and are both competitive surfers. Larry has won the NZ senior championships twice and has represented NZ at the ‘worlds’ three times. Deane is the current masters champion and has coached NZ junior teams. Many of the graduates of the
academy have gone on to become international surfing stars. ‘It’s an aspirational environment and the students are researching the best surfers in the world. They video themselves and analyse their moves in the water, constantly working to improve performance.’ says Malcolm. For an area school, Raglan offers a good basic core of subjects at the secondary level especially up to year 11 but cannot cover everything. For example, we can’t teach specialist music or applied maths or physics and we only extended into year 13 five years ago. ‘We are connected to the correspondence school and use our teaching staff here to supervise and help the kids taking these classes,’ says Malcolm. ‘Correspondence courses are all electronically based and our students do get priority enrolment, but correspondence classes don’t suit every student,’ he said. To keep grounded, Malcolm Cox teaches a junior maths class. ‘The kids very quickly see me as their teacher rather than the principal,’ says Malcolm, ‘and I am swiftly reminded of how to manage a class, because if the kids misbehave, who am I going to send them to?’ he laughs. Raglan Area School has a big heart, strong values and is genuinely bi-cultural in its approach. For these reasons it enjoys a great deal of success socially, culturally and academically, even though the staff and students will continue to face the challenges of isolation. Malcolm Cox is always on the look-out for improvement. ‘We have to extend beyond the welcoming environment we have established and re-examine the silo curriculum,’ he muses. ‘I favour the notion of a holistic curriculum where education is not confined to space and time,’ he says. I don’t doubt that Malcolm Cox will address his curriculum issues and Raglan students will have even more opportunities to succeed.