Living Heritage - Tauriko Primary School

Living Heritage is an online bilingual initiative that enables New Zealand schools to develop and publish an online resource, based on a heritage treasure in their community.

In this school story Tauriko Primary School’s concept for investigation was Whanaungatanga. This means belonging. Using the school’s inquiry process they explored what it means to belong to our community today and what it meant 100 years ago.

Along with English and Key Competency outcomes, the Social Sciences outcomes were to understand:

• how cultural practices vary but reflect similar purposes
• how people remember and record the past in different ways
• how early Polynesian and British migrations to New Zealand have continuing significance for tangata whenua and communities
• how the movement of people affects cultural diversity and interaction in New Zealand.

Questions / Things to think about

1. How does your school acknowledge whanaungatanga to the community?
2. The social sciences aspect of this project focused on different community perspectives. What advantages/opportunities/challenges can you see these perspectives might bring?
3. How do teachers respond to these different perspectives? How do students? How do parents?