Sam Tiatia is proud of his family of staff, students and parents
are just as likely to be Māori (23 per cent), Pacific Island (7 per cent) or one of the many other ethnicities such as Indian, Pakistani, Filipino, Turkish or African (25 per cent). Over time, homogeneity has given way to diversity. Principal, Stan Tiatia, himself of Samoan decent, recognises that cultural diversity can also bring challenges. ‘Our diversity brings such wonderful richness to our school community,’ he says, ‘but some, especially our growing number of migrant families, are unable to find stability of accommodation or income.’ This means Stan’s school also has a population of transient students and those living below the bread line. ‘Having a solid foundation on which to build the children’s learning is critical,’ he says, so that we can give them clear expectations and help them set challenging but realistic learning
goals. We help them grow as life-long learners, make learning relevant, fun and interesting and make them want to learn more,’ he said. That foundation comes in the form of school culture and it is to school cultural experts that Stan turned for inspiration and guidance. Russell Bishop and Ted Glynn’s work Culture Counts: Changing Power Relations in Education was a good starting point along with Bishop & Berryman’s research into the highly successful Te Kotahitanga: Towards effective Education Reform for Indigenous and other Minoritised Students. ‘Our school culture is based on the concepts of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga. ‘As the children will tell you, we help others, but without taking over. That way all children can participate,’ he
The mantra for Restorative Justice is liberally displayed throughout the school
The 2016 Prime Minister’s Award sits alongside the 2017 Award
N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 19
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