WE’RE STOKED The Editor takes a trip to Nelson’s Stoke School to see why ‘whānau’ is top of the school’s values list and what that means for the multi-cultural Nelson school . . . Liz Hawes Editor
Stoke School sits between Richmond and Tahunanui on the fringes of the charming little city of Nelson. It is a decile four school of 230 children with a big heart, a long reach and a loyal community. ‘We are a whānau-first school,’ says principal, Peter Mitchener. ‘Our key driver is building and developing our community,’ he says. ‘We see the school as a hub or centre for the things our community needs, because if we support the family, the child will be better catered for and will get success.’ This idea came from Peter’s own sabbatical studies in which he examined the concept of social agencies in schools. He was aware of the agencies working in Stoke who had connections with the families of his children and he wanted them to be part of the school. Peter’s Board of Trustees was very positive about the idea and together they re-examined the school charter to accommodate this notion. The number one annual plan goal became designing social agency strategies for the child and executing the plans through a community approach. The second
Children hard at work
goal was to acknowledge that teachers, children and adults are all learners as well as teachers, when you empower your community and finally, the school aspires to be fully inclusive of its significant (23 per cent) number of children on the special needs register. ‘A community house, located very close to the school, had just developed a group called the Stoke Stakeholders Group’, said Peter. This group included the Ministry for Social Development, the marae, health nurses and workers, state housing and Work & Income New Zealand. ‘We put the call out to all social agencies working in our area to meet together. We are now working on goals to integrate these groups as a whole,’ he said. Peter’s concept of ‘community’ is clearly not confined to the school children and their parents alone. He sees the whole community from pre-schoolers to the elderly as having an influence on the children in his school. What he wants most is to ensure that that influence is positive both for the children of his school and for other community members. To this end he encourages community groups to use the school facilities. ‘It’s
Principal Peter Mitchener
opening doors to communications, to building relationships and nurturing strong communities,’ he says. The school hall, a jewel in the school’s crown, is made available to a range of different community clubs and groups such as the pilates group, the composting environmental group, quilting and various musical groups such as the Country & Western Music group and the Highland Band. ‘We particularly wanted clubs that benefit and grow our whole community and make strong links with our parents and grandparents,’ said Peter. Another group looking for a ‘home’ was Te Piki Oranga, a Māori Health group. Stoke School had an unused Dental Clinic on site which is being used as a health clinic for Te Piki Oranga. ‘We have nurses in the clinic changing the dressing on ‘Auntie’s’ leg whilst they are also testing one of our children’s hearing,’ says Peter. ‘But before we know it, we have ‘Auntie’ asking if the school needs a breakfast club helper,’ he said. ‘In some cases we find that ‘Auntie’ has become a surrogate ‘nana’ to children who don’t have a nana of their own.’ In this way, the school is providing opportunities for connecting children with people in the community who they wouldn’t ordinarily meet, which brings mutual benefits and strengthens the community as a whole. ‘Relationships with our community are everything to us,’ he says. ‘Take today, for example. We are celebrating the Matariki [Māori New Year] and the whole school community is invited. Our children will have their work on display and there will be performances from individual classes, the Kapahaka group, choir, guitar groups and the school band,’ says Peter proudly. Year 5/6 teacher, Kiri Wahanui has coached the Kapahaka group and expects high standards from all of the children.
Everyone must do their very best to get their actions right and the singing must be strong and clear. Timing is everything and the practice session continues until Kiri is satisfied. Kiri also expects a ‘fierce’ haka performance from the boys. As they repeat the performance the volume rises and the boys’ faces become more ferocious until they can be clearly heard right to the back seats of the hall. Ka pai! Now they are ready for the show tonight. Meanwhile behind the school, local Māori are preparing a hangi. We head out to the hangi pit and there we find at least a dozen men and women toiling away. The men are digging the pit and building the fire whilst the women are preparing the food. They have been at the school for some hours and will be on deck to lift the hangi of pre-sold food parcels after the show. ‘The hangi is a fundraising effort for the Te Whai Oranga
Principal Peter Mitchener chats to one of the students in the playground
The School’s values are unashamedly on display
community house,’ says Peter. ‘Having the hangi here on the teacher and the child, each represented by a different colour, and school grounds, as part of our Matariki celebrations, means the three school rules of respect, responsibility and safety. The that the children can observe the whole process from digging kowhaiwhai is slowly being integrated into school signage and the hole to serving the food. It’s a wonderful cultural learning print materials. It is not a question of ‘out with the old and in experience for them and at the same time is helping Te Whai with the new.’ It’s a blending of the kowhaiwhai into the existing Oranga,’ says Peter. It’s a perfect example of the mutual benefits school’s history and symbolism. ‘We retain the old school logo,’ that come from supporting the community. says Peter, ‘but the kowhaiwhai will be incorporated into it,’ he The school roll is 30 per cent Māori so said, ‘because it better represents who we establishing a bicultural environment has are today.’ always been a priority for principal, Peter Stoke also has a growing Pacific Island Mitchener, who maintains we cannot aspire population, currently making up twelve to be multi-cultural until we are bi-cultural. per cent of the total school roll. Peter was His school’s strategic plan reflects his keen for his Pacific Island families to feel ambitions to make the school environment ownership of the direction for the Pacific more bicultural through carvings, art, Island children in his school. bicultural signage and strengthening the ‘We consulted with our Pacific Island Te Reo and Tikanga Māori plans. families,’ said Peter, ‘and asked them what ‘Our school is the second oldest in New they would like us as a school, to develop Zealand,’ he tells me, ‘so with the richness for their children.’ of history, there are many stories to tell.’ The Samoan families took the lead The story Peter is most proud of just because they are the greater number now is the gradual development of the but other Pacific Island ethnicities school logo towards incorporating the new were not left out. Overwhelmingly, it kowhaiwhai. It is a beautiful design called was communications, ownership and ‘whānau’ to symbolise a positive ‘family’ developing a sense of belonging within community, working together, accepting the school community, that dominated the each other, nurturing and sharing and discussions. Peter welcomed this response was developed in consultation with local which was perfectly consistent with the iwi and the community. It symbolises the school’s existing whānau concept and Leading the Kapahaka group’s action three-way partnership between parent, also fitted comfortably with the Ministry’s song
Only a ‘fierce’ haka will do
The Kapahaka group practises to produce a polished performance for the Matariki celebrations
Pasifika Education Plan. A long term plan for Pacific Island language and culture was developed which the parents insisted would be their responsibility. The first stage was to establish a group for language and culture, driven by the parents as their way of supporting the school. The second stage was to establish Pacific Island cultural festivals and to get started they chose to link up with the already established Kapahaka festival. The Kapahaka festival is sharing performances between the six or seven local schools that form a cluster. Now the cluster’s schools are including Pacific Island performance as part of the Kapahaka festival. Stoke is the only school with a Pacific Island group but we welcome Pacific Island kids from other schools to join us. The third stage was to extend beyond the performing arts into stories and language. In the final stage, the children themselves will be acting as tutors in their own classrooms for their classmates and the Mums and Nanas will present Pacific Island knowledge to the whole school. ‘The plan is totally driven by the Pacific Island community,’ says Peter. ‘The school is just the vehicle,’ he says. It is an organic process in which the parents and grandparents participate. They own it,’ he said. The plan has Peter’s full support and there are teachers behind it too. Importantly though, they come in behind the Pacific Island families who are the leaders. The families are the ones empowered to carry out the plan. ‘Next they would like to fundraise to go to Samoa,’ says Peter. Whilst this is a big step and may prove to be a step too far, if it’s an idea coming from his Pacific Island families, then Peter will
be doing everything in his power to help them achieve it, just as he did when they wanted a play-centre. ‘One of the issues raised when consulting with our Pacific Island families was the absence of a pre-school facility where mothers, as first teachers, could attend alongside their children. We had plenty of land,’ he said, ‘so we gifted a section on which the play-centre was built. The facility has proven hugely popular and is also the site for Pacific Island parents and grandparents to meet and share their knowledge, songs and stories and plan their cultural activities for the school. The play centre is also open to those whose families do not have children at Stoke school. Further feedback from the Stoke community included a gaping technology hole for one third of the school’s families who had no computer or internet connection in their own homes. With the support of the ‘computers in homes’ programme, Peter was able to offer a computer suite at his school for parents to attend classes offered by tutors from the ‘computers in homes’ programme. Some classes are held at night time and others during the day. ‘It is so helpful for the children to see their parents attending school classes,’ says Peter. ‘It just sends the message that we all belong here at this school and we are all learning together.’ ‘The parents have morning tea with the teachers if they are attending computer classes,’ says Peter, ‘which means that staff are having weekly conversations with the parents. That builds confidence and trust and strong, healthy relationships,’ he said. Whilst the school lives its philosophy of reaching out, there are also those agencies reaching in to support the school’s efforts.
Preparing the food for the hangi is a full day’s work.
The fire is set, ready for the hangi
School is fun at year one
The children have a think about how you get to Wellington
‘We are really lucky to have the support of business like ‘PlatinumPlay who donated our senior playground equipment and the Canterbury Community Trust who were so generous in supporting the refurbishment of our school hall and classroom block,’ he said. ‘We also have generous support from other agencies too,’ he says. ‘On Mondays the local church cooks soup and rolls for the children; we have fruit every day; we are in the milk in schools programme; and we have a breakfast club in the mornings. Bunnings Warehouse has just built our school a series of raised beds for our garden programme and Soon Kidscan will be supporting us to plant orchards on our back field.’ ‘A journey like this is not without its bumps and hurdles,’ says Peter, ‘and we quickly learned about the health and safety legislation requirements with having so many members of the community coming and going,’ he joked. Consistent with the whānau philosophy, Stoke school has an open-door policy so parents can come and go as they wish. ‘This practice can only work when every staff member is on board,’ says Peter. He confesses that when he first arrived at the school he thought that by being a good role model the tone would be set and staff would follow but soon learned he had to be quite specific about his intentions. ‘The leader shows the direction and shines the light,’ he says, ‘and I needed to stop and explain that this is our philosophy and
these are our goals,’ he said. He was quick to admit that unless the staff are right there with you, there is no chance of achieving your vision, no matter how great it might be. He considered himself lucky to have a wonderful staff who did share his vision and were prepared to bring the community with them. Peter considers looking after his staff and keeping them together as a team to be a priority and to this end they have shared lunch and can attend a pilates group together every Tuesday afternoon. Most take advantage of these activities which is also an opportunity to relax, get to know each other and enjoy each other outside of the classroom. It is easy to see how the whānau value operates at Stoke school. The real test is of course whether this school culture has a positive impact on the children’s learning. ‘We’ve seen a steady improvement in children’s progress,’ says Peter, ‘and that is ultimately what we are all aiming for,’ he said. What makes him feel most proud is observing the children actively participating in their learning and not just being passive recipients of education. He says it is also satisfying to watch how they genuinely care for one another and enjoy coming to school. And what do the children think about their school? ‘It’s a cool school because we can learn guitar,’ says one enthusiastic little boy. ‘I like school because we have fun,’ says a year one little girl. ‘It’s a bit like being in a big family and there’s heaps of stuff to do,’ says a thoughtful year six student. If ‘whānau’ is what Stoke School is trying to achieve, it sounds like a success story to me.
Parents, grandparents and other community members packed the school hall to enjoy the Matariki celebrations with the school
Pasifika culture is celebrated at Stoke School
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