Our Kāhui Ako was formed in late 2016 early 2017. It consists of the eight schools in the Tawa basin. These are Redwood Primary School, St Francis Xavier Primary School, Tawa Primary School, Hampton Hill Primary School, Greenacres Primary School, Linden Primary School, Tawa Intermediate School and Tawa College. There are approximately 3, 500 students attending schools in Tawa. It is worth noting that the schools had a well-developed network of collaborative opportunities between them prior to the establishment of Kāhui Ako.

 

Initially, the major focus with our Kāhui Ako was on establishing a school-wide community using restorative practices in our schools. This has changed over the years with the strategic direction looking at Tawa Tū (Bicultural Tawa), Tawa Ako (Pedagogy) and Tawa Hauroa (Wellbeing). 

 

These foci have been developed by professional learning for all teachers across the basin. This has included combined Teacher only Days, compulsory and voluntary after school workshops for teachers as well as combined Board of Trustees meetings. A number of combined school events have also occurred.  These have included a school's Kī-o-rahi festival with older students coaching and supporting younger students, the continuation and growth of our school Kapa Haka festival, Tawa College hosting community science evenings, the continuation of established music and sporting events as well as more student to student visits across our schools in a tuakana teina capacity.

 

The Tawa Kāhui Ako has actively engaged with Ngāti Toa and we have benefitted from their support and expertise in guiding us. We have also worked closely with our local community board and local environmental groups as we align our goals and work together across Tawa in providing learning for our students and staff in our community.