Whānau Groups
Each whānau group has students from Year 0 to 8 and has been set up to embrace tuakana – teina relationships to encourage older children to care for our younger ones and to occasionally assist in their learning activities and for younger tamariki to accept the guidance of their older peers. The students stick with their whānau group throughout their time here at Maungakaramea School. We see this as creating a strong learning-focused link between school, students and family. We love the essence that each whānau group has created to make our tamariki feel a sense of pride and belonging to our school and supported by their peers throughout their learning journey. The atmosphere that is created during our athletics, house days, whole school play day and other whānau events comes with tradition and the excitement of winning the House Shield at the end of each year.
Our House and Whānau Events
House Day
Our whānau groups collectively come together on many occasions to battle for the ‘House Shield’ which is awarded to the winning house at our end of year prizegiving. This is a huge deal for our tamariki, as it has carried out tradition over many years. It is based on house points, where each house group with mixed ages from Y1 – 8 will compete in a variety of exciting whānau challenges.
Cross Country / Athletics Day
In-house Cross Country and Athletics Day events see our whānau groups getting dressed up in their house colours, supporting and cheering on their fellow team members and filling the atmosphere with their traditional house chants! House points are awarded for participation and placings and go towards the end of year house shield draw.
Whānau Quiz
Our whānau groups get together to compete in a whole school whānau quiz. This is based around our school values and the different curriculum areas and is run by our teaching staff. This is a fun filled afternoon where our senior tamariki embrace the aspect of tuakana-teina, supporting our younger tamariki with their knowledge of learning and working together as a whānau.
Swimming Sports
In term one, Waiotira School joins us to compete in a number of swimming events including students racing against the teachers and parents in our community! The junior demonstration is a chance for our tamariki to showcase what they have been learning to do in and above the water, with years 3 – 8 participating in a variety of swimming strokes up until the final heats. Our whānau groups sit together to support their fellow house members and our parents under a shaded area whilst enjoying a sausage sizzle and a drink thanks to our amazing parent support and sponsors on the day.
