Te Uho o 
Te Nikau School

Te Uho o Te Nikau is a school based out of Flat Bush, South Auckland. Our mana whenua,  Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki were generous enough to share with us the story of  their ancestor, Manawatere, a great traveller who landed in Aotearoa many many years ago. Along with the TYS team, we  gathered the research and wrote this story for the shcool, which was then approved by all stakeholders.

Our in-house illustrator made the trip to the beach that the story of Manawatere is set -  to see the landscape and be inspired by the whenua. Using reference images and the story gathered from the community the story was bought to life in 8 images. These images were approved by the project team and were finalised.

We then contacted some local talent to make a set of resources for the school. With a goal of support kaiako to integrate the story across the curriculum.

- Narrated story in English with images
- Narrated story in Te Reo Māori with images
- Narrated story in New Zealand Sign Language with images
- Teacher Pedagogy videos to support integrated curriculum
- Kupu pronunciation video

After the kete was full of resources for Kaiako - we had a very successful story launch day, where teachers continued their journey around the pedagogy of teaching through narrative. The school then hosted a launch mihi whakatau where the stories were told to the tamariki and community. 

When the tamariki heard the story for the first time, they were on the edge of their seats. The story telling was so engaging, they were able to connect to many elements of the story and they loved that it was told by their teachers.

In subsequent terms, the TYS team were able to evidence the majority of tamariki able to tell the story in their own words, the literacy programme had been built around the story for a whole term.  Integration into mathematics, visual and performing arts, technology, social science science and play we evidenced.

Teachers talked about the level of engagement and power sharing, how the story supported everyone, English Language Learners and higher needs learners. They shared evidence of tuakana-teneia thriving and of whānau engagement.  

At a leadership level, the story has been integrated into school wide planning, into new teacher/board/staff inductions, into the landscape development and sits at the centre of school documentation as a way of bringing their values to life.