Hamilton and Pasifika learners

First Author Assembly with "Rise Up Academy"

 For the last couple of days I've been driving too and from Hamilton, with a colleague, to discuss a pilot programme with Pasifika and Maori Literacy and Numeracy facilitators.

It was a good time to reflect on Pasifika learners and the journeys that we had been both as Maori and Pasifika learners and now as educators.

We shared stories about how difficult it was "back in the day" to feel validated as Pasifika learners and that we didn't quite 'fit' into the square holed curriculum that was taught us. There was a lot of laughter and a few tears of educators recalling some of the funniest and sad moments of their journeys.

In retrospect for me, despite the flaws in the system, I was blessed with parents who knew about the value of education and now I feel it is my time to share some of those blessings with others and especially our next generation which brings to me to the learners of today.

These pics are of my first assembly where I had the privilege of gifting the book "Sina and the Tuna" to the principal for the children via my daughter who attends the school. The school is only in its second year of operation as a charter school and I had the privilege of watching it grow from parent workshops to a stand alone school today.

It's for these children and many more that I hope to gift my many stories to. Most of the students are Pasifika and Maori at the academy and are my target audience for many of my stories. For some, education has been not only a challenge to the children but also to their parents.

In validating out cultures, I believe that with more literature and discussions that support the values of being Maori and Pasifika that our children will learn not to leave their cultures at the doorstep of schools but to see their backgrounds as an intricate part of who they are and what they can achieve especially if educators are able to embrace these beautiful cultures into their teaching curricular.

It was good to have time to reflect as a Pasifika educator in Hamilton, on my journey in the New Zealand education system and to reflect on how we, as successful Pasifika educators, can now encourage success for our children and the next generations...

More students from Rise Up Academy - Years 1 - 8