Te Kura Tuarua o Te Awakairangi (Hutt Valley High School) has a vision to lift Māori achievement and engagement in the kura through monitoring tauira, building initiatives and providing opportunities for our rangatahi to grow. We have a growing committee known as the Pūwaha Committee who work by the kura’s Māori achievement plan where the focus is for Māori students to be engaged and experience learning environments that are inclusive and reflect them as Māori. The following enable our kura to achieve this:

Hotuwaipara Marae 

The Hutt Valley High School Marae was given the name Hotuwaipara by the late Jock McEwan and the late Sir Ralph Makere Love of Te Atiawa.

The archway seen on the front of the school marae was carved in 2004-2005 by Terry Deverall and Year 10 students studying Māori. It features Hotuwaipara at the top, Whatonga on the left and Tara on the right. The two figures seen on the carving represent Graeme Marshall, a former Principal at HVHS who established the Marae, and Hine Amoamo, a long-standing Māori language teacher on the right.

Hotuwaipara is used for various purposes, including a learning space for junior Tikanga, senior Te Ara, Māori performing arts, Te Reo Māori, Te Reo Māori and a safe space for tauira.

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Māori Leadership Days

These days focus on building our tauira into engaged and active members of the community. Breakouts throughout these days can focus on leadership, mentoring (tuakana-teina), resilience, perseverance and planning events for the kura. Tauira has the opportunity to engage with many kaiako and facilitators throughout these days. Hutt Valley High School aims to hold one of these per term.

Whānau Hui

Hutt Valley High School values relationships with whanau and our community. To maintain these relationships we hold termly hui where kaiako and whanau are able to discuss up and coming events, initiatives in the school for tauira and any changes we can make to help our tauira succeed while they are here.

Kapa Haka 

For a long time the Kapa Haka rōpū at Hutt Valley High School has been growing and in the last 3 years has reached a stage where we feel confident to perform at the regional competition level. In 2021 the  rōpū performed in the Whakangahau category of the regional competition and as a kura we can’t wait for further growth to come and the opportunity to stand in the Whakataetae category.

Our rōpū stands by four key expectations and therefore goals. These are: know your worth, do everything together, speak your mind, and put in the mahi. If we stick by these we believe we can stand confident in all we do as a rōpū.

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Junior Tikanga 

Year 9 Tikanga is a newly established course, in its second year, at Hutt Valley High School that all Year 9 tauira have the opportunity to be a part of. The objective of this course is to educate and integrate Tikanga Māori into the lives of our tauira, so they can stand proud and confident on occasions that may be different from their own culture. The outcome for our tauira will be a greater understanding of how culture shapes the way they think and behave as an individual within the community. Tauira will be able to begin to appreciate the value of cultural diversity in Aotearoa.

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Content throughout the year is taught through a Te Ao Māori lens and students are explicitly told this through the lessons. Should any student or their whānau feel uncomfortable with anything that is taught we encourage whanau to make contact.

"I have really enjoyed doing Tikanga over these last 2 terms. I feel like it was a great subject to learn different things about the Māori culture and just something different from all the other subjects.” -Yr 9 2021

Te Ara (formally known as Senior Tikanga)

Māori student wellbeing is strongly influenced by having a clear sense of identity, access and exposure to language and culture. Students do better when what and how they learn reflects and positively reinforces where they come from, what they value and what they already know. Learning needs to connect with students' existing knowledge. Te Ara is a senior course that was created for Māori tauira to experience this kind of learning.

The aim of the course is to enable students to be engaged and experience learning environments that are inclusive and reflect them as Māori.

Te Reo Māori

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Hutt Valley High School offers Te Reo Māori at both junior and NCEA. The courses are available to all students and are not only for Māori. At Hutt Valley High School we believe that learning Te Reo Māori will help all New Zealanders to understand Māori culture.

While studying Te Reo Māori tauira are able and encouraged to participate in the Ngā Manu Korero competition.

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Te Awakairangi

Based within the Hutt Valley and Greater Wellington Region, Te Awakairangi is a course designed to make global issues local. Using the knowledge of our local place we will look back in history, and into the future, to understand where we find ourselves now.

We are offering a senior course designed to appeal to socially conscious students who want to better recognise their place in this world, develop a sense of social responsibility, understand biodiversity and our ecological footprint, and grasp differing perspectives on local and global issues.

Māori Performing Arts

Māori Performing Arts is a newly established senior course, in its second year, at Hutt Valley High School that tauira have the opportunity to be a part of. The objective of this course is to educate and integrate Te Ao Haka into the lives of our tauira. 

For more information contact Grace Wright (grace.wright@hvhs.school.nz)