Whole Class Mana Wheels and Ātua Check Ins
Claire Fellows and Melany Close
Claire and Melany are currently teaching at Papakura Normal School. Claire is in her 3rd year and teaches a Year 5/6 Enrichment class within our Waka Haumako Unit, and Melany is a 1st year teacher who was employed after a very successful practicum, and is also in the Year 5/6 team.
Their presentation will look at using Te Ara Whakamana within the classroom setting and how they create and sustain the use of whole class Mana Wheels. This will include how a class Mana Wheel is created and used during a normal school day, as well as use of Atua Check-Ins for ākonga. They will share some of the tools they use and how it helps them to build relationships with their ākonga, as well as using it as a resource for self-management and emotional literacy.
Mana Enhancement and the Whare Tapa Rima Model
Nadia Gillbanks
My name is Nadia Gillbanks, I am a Learning Assistant at Papakura Normal School. I have worked in the school for the past five years, working alongside ākonga with special needs, as well as running the School Library and setting up the new Resource Centre.
I am currently studying Psychology at the Open Polytechnic with a goal to become an Educational Psychologist. I have gained my diploma and am now working on my bachelor’s degree. I have a passion for helping ākonga navigate the school environment when they are struggling.
I will be talking about the Māori health model Whare Tapa Rima (previously Whare Tapa Wha) and how that can work within the Mana Enhancement framework.
The Power of WHO!
Daelan Karangaroa
Kia Ora Koutou, My name is Daelan Karangaroa. I am a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour in Cluster 21.
I am based in Wairoa where I support the 16 Schools in our district alongside my 2 other RTLB Wairoa Colleagues.
My session will be a hands-on session so that participants can see how Te Ara Whakamana can be used as a restorative practice in schools, organizations, and workplaces, with reference to how this is being used in my own mahi. I will be focusing on the WHO! and how this can be unpacked further with the use of Te Ara Whakamana as a tool that allows for connection.
I will also share the developments with the Digitization journey of Te Ara Whakamana and how this has continued to grow to where it is today.
Oaklynn Specialist School
Emma Cutts and Louise Doyle
Oaklynn Speicalist School is located in the heart of New Lynn in central west Tāmaki Makaurau – in the whenua of Te Kawerau a Maki. We have 200 ākonga with ORS funding, we are on 10 different sites and we have 120+ staff. We attended the Unconference at Arahoe at the beginning of 2020 and knew then that this was a kaupapa dear to our hearts. Several members of staff and the whole of the senior leadership team have trained in Te Ara Whakamana and now with the support of a PLD grant we are training our whole staff. Over the last few years we have been on a journey to understand and deepen our practice around the neuroscience of behaviour – and we are making very strong links with Te Ara Whakamana.
The words of Lori Desautels align with our thinking and also with the kaupapa of Te Ara Whakamana; “Schools are not machines. Schools are networks of human beings who feel, think, behave and function within a human system that is alive and never static. Schools are living systems! This system of sentient beings are neurobiologically wired to feel first, then to think, to love, to connect, and to experience deep joy as well as disappointment and pain.”
In our session we will:
– Share our understanding of how the neuroscience of behaviour is affected by relational safety, the importance of play (Experience Sharing) in developing this and understanding sensory needs as possible threats to the nervous systems of our ākonga.
– Show how Te Ara Whakamana weaves the above aspects together and celebrate some highlights and moments in our journey to train 120+ staff in this kaupapa.
The Journey Begins; Stories from West Auckland Learning Support Service Implementing Te Ara Whakamana
Kararaina Penehira, MOE West Auckland
The Behaviour Support Service in Learning Support West Auckland area, have trained and started to implement Te Ara Whakamana over the last 12 months. We work with a diverse range of students with various learning, developmental, social-emotional, and cultural needs. The Kaitakawaenga (Māori cultural advice and support workers) have been partnering with the Education Psychologists in Learning Support to engage with Māori students where Te Ara Whakamana is a good fit.
We will be sharing our learnings, and ways that we have adapted our implementation to the particular needs of our akonga. We have had a particular focus on Whakawhanaungatanga, and creative Psycho-social learning activities around ngā Atua Māori, which has meant good engagement and outcomes with our akonga.
Rerehua – Transformation. Restoring Mana at Randwick School
Paiana Te Amo (New Entrants teacher) and Mons Goodall (Principal)
Randwick School is a small full primary school of about 150 students situated in Lower Hutt, Wellington. 54% of our population is Māori, 18% Pasifika as well as a mixture of ethnic groups from all over the world. All kaiako and kāiawhina at Randwick School took on the exciting and empowering discovery of Te Ara Whakamana at the start of 2021.
2020 was a hard one managing Covid and that brought new challenges for our tamariki. More than ever we knew as a school we needed to build up mauri, wairua and mana. Te Ara Whakamana was implemented at a critical time when our students needed to reconnect with their identity and culture, rebuild positive relationships and regain ownership of their independence, feelings and emotions.
We want to take you on a journey through our school from our new entrant class to our year 8 students. We want you to see this not just through our eyes but the lens of the students. Find out how our 5 year olds use Te Ara Whakamana as a vehicle for emotional literacy, empowering mana, mahi and manaaki to build a solid fountain for our Tamariki as they start their learning journey at Randwick School. We will share how we work with our senior students to ensure that when they leave the front gates of Randwick School prepared to start their next learning journey and next step in life with a kete that they have woven with strength, a moral compass, self-discovery, identity, leadership skills, tools and strategies for them to articulate and deal with their emotions and most importantly their MANA!
Te Ara Whakamana and the Emerging Adolescent
Papakura Normal School Year 7/8 Team
The Intermediate Academy at Papakura Normal School is made up of five Year 7/8 classes as well as a specialist STEAM and Technology programme. With one foot in childhood and the other in adolescence, the early adolescent faces a set of changes that can be scary and confusing. In no other period of an individual’s life, except in infancy, are there so many changes in such a short period of time. Te Ara Whakamana was implemented in Papakura Normal School in 2019. The Intermediate Academy has been successfully using Te Ara Whakamana Wheel to eradicate unwanted behaviour in and out of class, and to build and support individual ākonga mana.
The Intermediate Academy will be presenting about ways to support ākonga mana and build their self-esteem and teach strategies that support ākonga abilities to self-regulate – from that of a core classroom teacher, team leader and specialist teacher perspective.
Te Ara Whakamana – A RTLB Perspective
Angeline Tan, RTLB Central West Auckland
Awareness – On Boarding – Application – Reflection
This sharing will trace the building of knowledge of the Te Ara Whakamana process amongst a group of RTLBs and how we bring on board our colleagues within our cluster and our schools. We will look at how we use Te Ara Whakamana as an initial hui tool, an intervention strategy and some of the students feedback on how they use their mana plan and what they learn from the process.
We examine the micro, meso and macro levels of application from a RTLB perspective.
‘Tales of the tail’ – using Te Ara Whakamana to Explore our Histories Curriculum
Arahoe School Leadership Team
Aotearoa NZ is on a journey to ensure that all akonga in our schools and kura learn how our histories help share our lives. With the advent of the new Aotearoa’s New Zealand’s histories curriculum, where should a school start when searching for histories that have shaped our people, whenua and wairuatanga. In 2022, Arahoe School embarked on a journey to answer this very question. Entitled “Tales of the tail” an authentic task was set for each person from our kura to paint a miniature whale’s tail using colours and designs to represent both mana and whakapapa.
The Arahoe leadership team will share this story with you and discuss how Te Ara Whakamana and our Mana plans helped write these stories and histories of self-discovery and self-knowing.
Te Ara Whakamana: Mana Enhancement UnConference 