Nga Maunga

Nga Maunga Rohe o te Kura o Hikurangi

Background 

Up until the end of 2015 our school grouped our tamariki into four groups that were named after native trees - Matai, Kauri, Rimu & Tawa.  It was felt that something with more significance to our school/community would be more beneficial and purposeful to our tamariki and kaiako at our kura. It was decided that we would group our students into four groups, each named in honour of signicant Maunga (Mountains) in and around our Rohe Potae (Boundaries). Below is an explanation of our thinking.

Te Whakaaro (Our Purpose/Thinking) 

One of the main reasons for changing how we group our tamariki and staff at school is one of identity. Though the children may not whakapapa to the maunga they have been aligned too, within the school context they will totally belong to that maunga. 

Another important reason for change was a general thinking amongst all concerned for a need to establish group names that held more significance to our tauira (students), hapori (community), and rohe (Hikurangi township and surrounding areas). This was our guiding principle throughout the whole process. 

Identifying the four maunga within our rohe will give more meaning and relevance to our school, whanau, and community. Before long our tamariki will develop a sense of pride and mana when representing their maunga during school based activities. 

Maunga are important landmarks within tribal boundaries. People often identify with their maunga as they are often revered as a source of pride, integrity and mana. From our maunga descend our awa which often flow onward to the sea. These journeys from maunga to sea can be significantly testing at times and not unlike those taken by the tamariki of our kura. Knowing that they belong to their mountain will assist them in pushing through such times to ensure that they reach their destination, wherever that may be. We at Hikurangi School are lucky to be surrounded by numerous ancestral maunga and we have aligned our kura to four of these tupuna maunga. They form the boundaries to the whenua which the majority of tamariki live and come from. 

‘Nga Maunga Whakahirahira, Nga Maunga Tupuna, Nga Maunga Korero’ 

The mountains that we group our students into at school are:

• Te Hiku o te Rangi - This is our mountain that is immediately to the west of our School

• Huruiki - This mountain is situated at Whangaruru

• Matanui - This mountain is situated slightly inland from Matapouri

• Onekainga - This mountain is situated at Whananaki

Our Students compete in a range of school-based activities and they represent their maunga with pride. The competition is both fierce and healthy. The pride that they take in their maunga assists them in all learning contexts at school. Each maunga grouping has student Rangatira (leaders) and this initiative flows into our Tuakana / Teina kaupapa that we have at Hikurangi School.