In Term 3, 2015, the Senior Team mapped out a ‘topic’ that would have a real life problem and an actionable solution/resolution.  The hook was the lack of birds in our neighbourhood. All the tamariki in Year 5 and 6 were part of it, and in groups they had to come with a solution to this problem.  The answer, a native garden to support bird life. 

Each group came up with planting designs,  location, types of plants. A final design was chosen and implemented – and this is where the Pou came in. To recognize the team effort, acknowledge everyone who was involved, and to leave a legacy, we decided to erect Pou.  Every child had to be a part of the painting process in each classroom.  The designs came from a mixture of kaiako and tamariki ideas.

Room 11: Represents all the things the class felt were important to them as a collective.

Room 12: Handprints represent the children’s moment in their lives (so they could come back and actually touch and measure their hands in years to come).

Room 13: Represents the learning journey the children had been on in 2015.

Room 15 - A winding staircase or steps with a Māori pattern representing our journey.

These Pou were the first to be planted. From 2016, the kaupapa of the project became more defined and the school realised these Pou were in fact kaitiaki. From 2016 on, it became a Year 6 project, where design, meaning and purakau grew as our understanding of tikanga and te ao Māori grew.