“Educating and empowering young people to thrive.”
Our whakatauki references the pūrākau of Hinetītama, her powerful transformation and journey to step outside of her comfort zone. We talk about Hinetītama a lot in our kura, from haka in Kapa haka, to Te Rōpū Hinetītama, our student leadership council for ākonga Māori.
This whakatauki is also at the foot of every school email and was gifted to us as part of our cultural narrative.
Read more about the naming of our site, our shared location Ōrua Paeroa, and the taonga that is our Cultural Narrative.
Ōtākaro – Avon River
Travis Wetlands
Te Karoro Karoro | New Brighton Spit
This is our cultural space and is shared by SBHS with a room divider down the middle. We use this as a teaching space, as the a landing space for ākonga Māori and as a space for whānau hui, whānau collective and smaller Mihi Whakatau.
Te Paeroa refers to the long ridge. As the ridge-line splits into two around Te Paeroa, the one common area leading to and from Ōrua Paeroa, is Te Paeroa. (from Ōrua Paeroa Naming Suggestions, 2017).
Whakanui is our biggest event of the year, in terms of celebrations for our ākonga Māori. It is a wonderful whānau event with kai, awards, performances, kapa haka and celebration.
We have a number of awards including the prestigious Badge awards, as below:
Overall Service Award (Tuakana/Senior & Teina/Junior)
Tuakana Teina Award
Whakawhanaungatanga Award
Kaitiakitanga Award
Commitment to Hauora
Overall prize for Innovation / Research
Overall prize for Creativity
Top Māori Academic Achiever Y9-13
Cultural Leader (Tuakana & Teina)
Whaikōrero Leader (Tuakana & Teina)
TE REO MĀORI
Te Reo Māori is offered across Years 9-13. We offer a full year course in Year 10 for students, and a Junior multi-level Te Reo class for learners who have previous knowledge.
Ākonga can study at a higher level to suit their needs and University STAR courses are also available for students post Year 13.
TE AO HAKA
Te Ao Haka is offered from years 11-13.