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Welcome to Awhitu District School

Awhitu District School is a well established full primary catering for students from New Entrants to Year 8.

We are a country school with country values and a family atmosphere.

We pride ourselves on working together in partnership with our parents and families, to provide quality education in a caring and stimulating environment.

We enjoy all the benefits of rural living and the best of innovative teaching and learning through Inquiry, a blended eLearning approach and personalised learning. Each classroom is equipped with either Chromebooks or iPads and interactive whiteboards.

Our school is well supported by an active Board of Trustees and PTA who are dedicated to help provide wonderful resources to enhance students learning and experiences.

Our PRIDE Values are very important at Awhitu District School as they form the basis of our school Vision, which is:
'Empowering students to care, adapt and succeed with PRIDE'

Personal Best

Respect

Integrity

Determination

Exploration

OUR PRIDE PANELS

Our amazing PRIDE panels are proudly displayed in the heart of our school. These all started some time ago with the development of the school Vision (Empowering students to care, adapt and succeed with PRIDE), by the school community as a whole. The PRIDE Values have been embedded within our curriculum and everything we do here at Awhitu. Over the last year the students and staff have been developing our PRIDE Matrix, which explains what is expected of each of us within each value, in each school setting. This Matrix provides the basis for our Values lessons each week.

During the design of our PRIDE panels our children identified animals, wildlife, trees and environments that are important to us, and that depict our PRIDE values. These ideas were then passed on to our talented designer Sasha Maya from ‘Sasha Maya Creative’ who has designed our PRIDE panels and school signage. Below is a description of some of the meanings and the story within our stunning PRIDE panels.

Moving from Panel 1 to 5 they move through from early morning to midday, to dusk, to night. Each of the panels represent a different part of the Awhitu environment:

Panel 1: The sea

Panel 2: Awhitu School pine forest

Panel 3: New Zealand bush

Panel 4: The foreshore (and Awhitu lighthouse)

Panel 5: The harbour

The animals were all chosen by the children for their habitation in the environments of Awhitu area. Some of them also represent the PRIDE values.

- The hammerhead shark (mangopare) in panel 1 represents strength and determination.

- The Maori name for the fur seal (panel 5) is kekeno meaning ‘look around,’ depicting exploration & curiosity.

- The turtle (panel 1) is a symbol of the good life, navigator (exploration), calmness and achievement.

- Pukeko (panel 4) were known for their bold scheming and determination. They raided gardens for kūmara and taro.

Many of the animals have relevant symbolism within Maori culture. The heron (panel 5) fly at night. There is a Whaktauki used in relation to rare guests. Kōtuku had mythical status for Māori because of their rarity and beauty. The epithet ‘te kōtuku rerenga tahi’ (the white heron of a single flight) was given to distinguished guests who seldom visited. The albatross (panel 4) symbolises beauty and power. Wearing albatross feathers or bone pendants conferred these qualities on the wearer, usually a person of rank. Garlands of feathers sometimes adorned the prow of waka taua (war canoes).