Te Hauora

Once upon a time a girl named Weni inherited a piece of land. She didn’t know what she would do with it. That night Weni had a dream about a beautiful kowhai tree. So she de-cided that she would plant a kowhai tree on this piece of land. When she told her friends about it, they scoffed at her, because this piece of land was in an area that was very dry and arid and only good enough for tussocks, however, Weni ignored them.

For one week, Weni worked very hard to prepare the soil for the planting of a kowhai seed. She tilled the soil and added compost and left it to rest for a week. She knew the warmth of the sun and the gentle falling of the rain that day would also help with the preparation of the soil.

The initial steps of starting school, where everything is new and the surroundings are strange.You are a newbie ‘taking your first breath’ steps in to school, the time of discovery.

Kākano

One week later, Weni carefully planted her kowhai seed in the rich soil and lightly watered it. Every day she watered it waiting for it to grow. When she told her friends they laughed and said that the kowhai seed would never grow. But Weni continued to look after her kowhai seed. Again Weni knew the warmth of the sun would help too.

You are now growing with familiarity in your new environment, exploring more widely with learnings about you, your school and your teachers.

Pihipihi

Many weeks later, Weni went down to water her kowhai seed as usual and there to her amazement, a tiny shoot had appeared from the ground. Weni was so excited, that she told her friends about the wonderful news. Her friends weren't interested. The next day, another shoot appeared. Weni was very happy.

This is where you are growing in confidence; aspiring to work independently soaking up new knowledge and practising learning skills

Tipurangi

It wasn’t long before the kowhai seedling began to grow bigger and taller. Weni continued to water her kowhai seedling and the sun continued to give the seedling warmth. Weni loved watching the growth of her seedling. It didn’t take long before it became a small tree.

You are growing in all aspects of your leaning continuing to develop independence and self management skills.

Puāwai

As the tree continued to grow and form branches, the sun continued to give it warmth and Weni continued to water it. And so Weni was delighted when blossoms began to form on the kowhai tree. She also knew that these blossoms would soon change into flowers. (And of course, the sun and rain continued to nurture the kowhai tree too).The yellow kowhai flowers were the prettiest flowers that Weni had ever seen.

This is where you are ‘coming’ into yourself, your confidence has grown, your self belief.

Rapunga

It wasn’t long before the seed pods began to form on the tree and Weni knew that these seed pods would soon be released and dispersed into the wind to grow somewhere else. Weni decided to collect some seeds and when her friends came to see her and the kowhai tree, Weni gave some seeds to her friends so that they could grow a kowhai tree too.

The setting of goals and aspirations are reflected in the forming and growth of the seed pods.

Te Whainga

You are ready to pursue your goals/aspirations and ready for your journey in to high school, reflected in the dispersal of the seeds to other places to begin the journey again.

Taumata

It is time for you to ‘sit on the summit of Tititea’ and know that this is also a time to:

Reflect on your learning journey Be thankful to all who have supported your learning journey.

Congratulate yourself for getting here Remember this is only the beginning of a new adventure.

This is about you - reaching the highest level of your journey.You have arrived and reached your final destination of your learning journey at Wānaka Primary School.