Leeston School Curriculum 2022

Contents

Welcome ...........................................................................................
Tūrangawaewae, Our Place ...........................................................
Waitātari Legend .............................................................................
Waiwhio Legend .............................................................................
Waikekewai Legend ........................................................................
Our Vision ........................................................................................
Leeston LEGENDS ...........................................................................
Our Values - Pillars of Care ............................................................
Ngā Mātāpuna o te Waihora Kāhui Ako ......................................
Te Whare Mauri Ora .......................................................................
Positive Behaviour for Learning ...................................................
Key Competencies ..........................................................................
Inquiry Learning .............................................................................
Biennial Plan ...................................................................................
Programmes of Work ....................................................................
Te Reo Pakeha / English .................................................................
Structured Literacy .........................................................................
Ngā Toi / The Arts ...........................................................................
Hauora & Hākinakina / Health & PE .............................................
Ngā Reo / Learning Languages .....................................................
Pāngarau / Mathematics ...............................................................
Pūtaiao / Science ............................................................................
Tikanga ā-Iwi / Social Science .......................................................
Hangarau / Technology .................................................................
Student Achievement ....................................................................
Learning Support ...........................................................................
Opportunities for Enrichment & Extension ................................

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Nau Mai, Haere Mai Ki Te Kura ō He Puna Karumata
Welcome to Leeston School

Leeston Consolidated School is a U5 State co-educational contributing primary school catering for children from Year One to Year Six. Most of the children contribute to the nearby Year Seven to Year Thirteen Ellesmere College (also in Leeston) where a wide range of learning options are available. Nearly half of the children travel to and from school by bus.

Leeston School opened in 1865. In April, 1935, Irwell and Doyleston schools were closed and the children travelled by bus to Leeston. The Lakeside school closed in February, 1940, and Brookside closed with a falling roll in 1944. In more recent times St Joseph’s Convent School which was based in Leeston also closed, hence the name, Leeston Consolidated School.

Parents are actively involved and encouraged with classroom programmes, sports, and Education outside the Classroom activities. The children, parents and staff have worked together to develop an exciting EOTC (Education outside the Classroom) programme for the whole school.

There are approximately 230 families at our school, 85% of NZ European/Pakeha descent, 14% Maori descent. Occupations include farmers, farm workers, business operators and professional people. There is also a growing commuter group that works in the greater Christchurch area.

Leeston Consolidated School is a silver Enviroschool where the local environment is very important. The snow covered Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana (Southern Alps) are visible from the playground, to the west.

Tūrangawaewae Our Place

Waitātari

Waiwhio

Waikekewai

Our Māori name, He Puna Karumata, was gifted to us by Taumutu Rūnunga based at Ngāti Moki Marae, Taumutu. Karumata is a name recorded for the Leeston area and He Puna refers to the many spring fed tributaries in our learning hub that feed into Te Waihora (Lake Ellesemere). Our learning blocks are named after three of these tributaries - Waitātari (Hart’s Creek), Waiwhio (Irwell River) and Waikekewai.

Tūrangawaewae Our Place

The traditional name for the lake was Te Kete Ika o Rākaihautū (the food basket of Rākaihautū), a reference to the abundance of native fish and other mahinga kai found there. The key fish species of Te Waihora include: pātiki (flounder), tuna (eels) and aua (mullet). Te Waihora is also a famed mahinga kai for manu waimāori (waterfowl) including numerous native duck species, such as the pūtakitaki (paradise duck) and pārera (grey duck).

Today, however, the richness of Te Waihora as a mahinga kai has been severely degraded, largely as a result of agricultural land use, lower lake levels due to drainage to the sea, and the loss of its significant wetland buffer. Despite this, it remains as a key mahinga kai of Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki and neighbouring hapū. In the past, the lake was much higher than at present and it was controlled by the people of Taumutu when it was almost breaching the spit. Kōrari or the flowering stalks of harakeke / NZ Flax were dragged across the sand to make the initial opening of the water to the sea. This management allowed for the regular passage of fish to and from the lake and maintained the abundant kai of Te Waihora.

There are seven key tributaries of the lake, including Kaituna; Huritini (Halswell River); Ararira (LII River); Waikirikiri (Selwyn River); Waiwhio (Irwell Stream); Waitātari (Harts Creek) and Waikekewai. Due to its significance, the lakebed of Te Waihora was returned to Ngāi Tahu through the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 and is subject to a Joint Management Plan developed by Ngāi Tahu and the Department of Conversation.

The swampy surrounds of Te Waihora, and the rivers and streams which are part of these wetlands, include the Waiwhio (Irwell River), Waitātari (Harts Creek) and Waikekewai. These areas provided the prime environment for native fish such as tuna (eels) and waterfowl such as pūtakitaki (paradise duck). Of particular importance to Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki is Waikekewai, which originates just south of Southbridge and flows past both Te Pā o Moki/Ngāti Moki marae and Ōrariki, before entering the lake at Te Koru. Waikekewai, like the Waiwhio and Waitātari are spring fed rivers, prized for their very clear and cool waters. Part of the Waikekewai catchment includes the very important springs known as Waiwhakaheketūpāpaku, which were used as water burial springs for significant tūpuna. To this very day, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki are committed to ensuring the quality and quantity of water in Waikekewai (and other tributaries) protects the wāhi taonga and wāhi tapu status of these waterways and the values they hold.

The swampy surrounds of Te Waihora, and the rivers and streams which are part of these wetlands, include the Waiwhio (Irwell River), Waitātari (Harts Creek) and Waikekewai. These areas provided the prime environment for native fish such as

Tūrangawaewae Our Place

pūtakitaki (paradise duck). Of particular importance to Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki is Waikekewai, which originates just south of Southbridge and flows past both Te Pā o Moki/Ngāti Moki marae and Ōrariki, before entering the lake at Te Koru. Waikekewai, like the Waiwhio and Waitātari are spring fed rivers, prized for their very clear and cool waters. Part of the Waikekewai catchment includes the very important springs known as Waiwhakaheketūpāpaku, which were used as water burial springs for significant tūpuna. To this very day, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki are committed to ensuring the quality and quantity of water in Waikekewai (and other tributaries) protects the wāhi taonga and wāhi tapu status of these waterways and the values they hold.

Waitātari (Years 0 - 2)
Waitātari (Harts Creek) is a spring-fed creek that flows into Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). Located near the small Ellesmere town of Leeston, Waitātari is also a popular wildlife reserve renowned for fishing and bird watching.

Waiwhio (Years 3 & 4)
Waiwhio (Irwell River) rises to the southeast of Dunsandel and flows southeast over Kā Pākihi-whakatekateka-a-Waitaha (the Canterbury Plains) into Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). Wai is the Māori word for water, and whio is the blue duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos). Waiwhio was part of the extensive mahinga kai resource of the greater Te Waihora area. During the 1879 Smith-Nairn Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Ngāi Tahu land claims, Ngāi Tahu kaumātua Kiriona Pohau, Hopa Paura and Karara recorded Waiwhio as a kāinga mahinga kai (food-gathering place) where aruhe (bracken fernroot), tuna (eels), inaka (whitebait), kōkopu (native trout), pūtakitaki (paradise duck), and pārera (grey duck) were gathered.

Waikekewai (Year 5 & 6)
Te Waikekewai (Waikekewai Creek) is a spring-fed river that originates just south of Southbridge in the Selwyn District, and flows through the Ngāi Tahu kāika of Taumutu before entering Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). Part of the Te Waikekewai catchment includes very important springs known as Wai-whakaheke-tūpāpaku, which were used as water burial springs for significant tūpuna. To this day, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki are committed to ensuring the quality and quantity of water within Te Waikekewai.

Sourced from Ngā Mātāpuna o Te Waihora Cultural Narrtaive, Page 7, prepared by Bridget Robilliard and Craig Pauling on behalf of Te Taumutu Rūnanga, 2015)

Waitātari Legend: Te Waihora me Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū

The creation of Te Waihora and the Banks Peninsula

Following the wreckage of Te Waka o Aoraki, Ranginui sent his three mokopuna, Tūterakiwhanoa, Marokura and Kahukura from the heavens to transform the broken waka.
Tūterakiwhanoa’s job was to gather together the broken pieces and carve the keel of the upturned waka into mountains and valleys. Raking together the waka pieces was hard work. He raked and lifted and piled the broken pieces. To stablize himself, Tūterakiwhanoa dug his heel into Papatūānuku, creating a permanent indentation in the land, an indentation which was soon to fill with water. This shallow expanse of water was to become known as Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere and the raked pile of waka pieces became known as Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū, the Banks Peninsula.
Once Tūterakiwhanoa’s job was done Kahukura set about foresting the bare landscape and filling it with animals. Marokura carved bays, inlets and estuaries and populated them with fish of many varieties. When their work was done the three mokopuna had created a land fit for human occupation.
To this day the mauri or spiritual essence of Tūterakiwhanoa still resides in Te Waihora, near Whakamātakiuru, Fishermans Point. This mauri reminds the people of Taumutu of their responsibility as the tangata tiaki (the guardians) of Te Waihora and the surrounding area.

Waiwhio Legend: Te Rakihouia me Kā Poupou o Te Rakihouia

The Eel Weirs of Te Rakihouia

The first people to arrive in the central Canterbury area were those on the Uruao waka under the captaincy of Te Rakihouia, who had taken over the waka from his father Rākaihautū. Te Rakihouia had been instructed by his father to seek out the rich resources of Ki Tai, the coastal area while he, Rākaihautū, traversed the mountain regions identifying the resources of Ki Uta, the land.
This first migration of people were generally known as Waitaha. Included in this tribal grouping were descendants of Te Kāhui Tipua, Te Kāhui Roko, Te Rapuwai, Ngāti Hawea, Ngāti Wairangi and Waitaha.
In his travels along the eastern coastline Te Rakihouia came upon a wetland and lake teeming with fish and birds. He claimed the coastline naming it ‘Kā Poupou O Te Rakihouia’ The Eel Weirs Of Te Rakihouia. And, when he reunited with his father, Te Rakihouia took him to the wetlands and lake. So, taken by the abundance of mahinga kai (food and resource), Rākaihautū claimed the wetland and lake naming it Te Kete Ika A Rākaihautū, The Fish Basket Of Rākaihautū.

Waikekewai Legend: Te Waka o Aoraki me Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana

The formation of the South Island and the Southern Alps

From the nothingness came Te Mākū who coupled with Mahoranuiatea. From this union came Ranginui, Sky Father. Ranginui married a woman called Pokoharuatepō. From this union came Aoraki, Rakirua, Rakiroa and Rarakiroa. This is their story.
Aoraki and his brothers lived in the heavens. One day Aoraki decided to visit their stepmother Papatūānuku. Along with his brothers, Aoraki boarded the waka (canoe), Te Waka o Aoraki and travelled down through the heavens. Soon they came across Papatūānuku, Mother Earth.
Having met their stepmother and explored the whenua, the brothers then set about finding food. They found a good fishing spot, lowered their hooks and waited. They waited and waited. But no fish were biting. They decided it was time to go home.
The brothers readied the waka and Aoraki began to recite the karakia (incantations) to take their magical waka back up into the heavens. The brothers, by now very hungry and grumpy, began to grumble. Soon grumbling turned to fighting. Aoraki, so distracted by the fighting, lost his concentration and made a mistake in the karakia. The consequence was immediate. The waka crashed back down onto Papatūānuku, breaking into pieces. The brothers managed to save themselves by scrambling onto an upturned portion of the waka.
Try as he may, Aoraki was unable to fix the mistake he had made in the karakia. The brothers remained on the upturned waka, calling to their father and pleading with their stepmother to help them. No help came.
Centuries passed. The upturned canoe petrified, and the four brothers turned to stone. The tallest amongst them was Aoraki.
Many generations later, people began to populate Papatūānuku. They renamed Te Waka o Aoraki the South Island. They renamed the brothers, Rakirua Mount Teichelmann, Rakiroa Mount Dampier, Rarakiroa Mount Tasman and the tallest of them all, Aoraki Mount Cook. The four brothers became known as part of the mountain range called the Southern Alps, Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana.