Fruit in Schools

Case studies

Te Kura o Te Teko

• Notes for readers about this case study
• Introducing Te Kura o Te Teko
• Community collaboration
• Connecting with whānau
• Specific initiatives in the four health areas
• Student perspectives
• Challenges
• Sustainability and where to next?
• Glossary
• References

---

Ka nui te whakamihi ki te hunga, ki ngā kaiako, ki ngā whānau i tautoko, i whakapau i o rātau kaha ki te hāpai i te kaupapa hauora nei. Mauri ora!

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
What matters most on this earth?

Maku e kii atu
I proclaim

He tamariki, he taiohi, he rangatahi
It is the child, the juvenile, it is the youth

Notes for readers about this case study

This case study is different from the other case studies in this series in that it reflects teaching and learning approaches connected to FIS within a kura context. Whakataukī have been included as reference points to contextualise the information and are designed to give readers a sense of the relationships, interactions, cultural aspirations, and expectations within an iwi education setting. Although data from these case studies were analysed along with data from the mainstream schools in terms of leadership, community, and whānau, it is important to acknowledge the complexity of the interrelationships between these categories in the setting of a kura.

Introducing Te Kura o Te Teko

Ko Pūtauaki te Maunga
Pūtauaki is our mountain

Ko Rangitaikinui- ā-Tia te Awa
Rangitaiki is our river

Ko Mataatua te Waka
Mataatua is our canoe

Ko Toroa te Tangata
Toroa is our leader

Ngāti Awa te toki tangatanga i te rā!
Ngāti Awa is our tribe!

Te Kura o Te Teko (TKTT) is a decile 1, full primary school that offers total immersion and bilingual education. It is located in a rural area of the Eastern Bay of Plenty and has a roll of approximately 126 students. All ākonga and most staff are affiliated to Ngāti Awa through seven local marae and 10 hapū.

The kura adheres to the knowledge, language, values, and customs of Ngāti Awa and the Ringatü faith. TKTT recently celebrated their 125th jubilee and have gained high recognition through their various achievements at both the local and regional level. The kura is a Phase 2 FIS school and a key feature of their school is an emphasis on collaborative relationships between students, staff, whānau, and the wider community.

Leadership

The school’s latest Education Review Office (2006) report noted that TKTT had received over six visits from 1991. The report also stated that, since the appointment of the current principal in 2005, considerable progress had been made. Whānau and staff observed that the principal had been proactive in facilitating interpersonal relationships between the school, whānau, and wider community within the region to facilitate local change. His passion, skills, and tenacity were instrumental in TKTT fully embracing the FIS initiative and he received emphatic support from the board of trustees and kaumätua towards achieving the school hauora goals:

FIS is an awesome initiative driven by an awesome principal. Tony sets high standards, celebrates success and is spearheading excellence, leadership, quality, and management. (Whānau member)

Community collaboration

The cohesive school culture within TKTT has supported the kura to raise the profile of hauora in the overall school community. A large proportion of the wider community, including a number of local marae, kōhanga reo, kaumätua, and Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngāti Awa (Ngāti Awa Social and Health Services Trust), are actively involved with TKTT in promoting, enhancing, and advocating for the health and wellbeing of whānau communities. TKTT has established a strong platform of support for education across all generations, from early childhood to kaumātua. Fruit is shared with local kōhanga and TKTT has influenced local marae to provide a healthy range of food options at various hui (such as tangi).

In the first term of 2006, TKTT was part of an event that launched FIS in the Eastern Bay called the “Big Crunch”. The kura, alongside other health and community organisations throughout the Whakatane district, paraded through the town centre and simultaneously crunched into a piece of fruit. Staff and students considered this to be a huge success because they were able to raise community awareness around nutrition and physical activity and celebrate and promote a positive image of the school through local and national media such as Te Karere. The festival then continued at TKTT, and included a range of other activities such as jump jam, kapa haka, classroom displays, and guest speakers, all promoting FIS.

In Term 3, TKTT was invited to present a keynote address about the FIS initiative at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiärangi, Auckland. A group comprising school staff, students, and kaumātua attended this event and they talked about the healthy benefits, attitudes, behaviour, learning, and the impact of FIS on their school.

Connecting with whānau

…notions of whānau in Māori medium schooling … include greater forms of socialisation that infiltrate the whole school ethos and penetrate strongly into the community. (Jenkins, 1999, p. 12)

TKTT had a number of mechanisms for connecting with the whānau community, and these were being used to work on FIS goals. Whānau whom we interviewed were well informed about the school’s agenda for hauora and believed it provided an impetus to begin addressing a range of issues. A number of parents commented on the alignment between FIS and the goals of the kura. As one said:

FIS has awakened, complemented and reinforced what we were aiming to achieve for future development.

Parents also believed that FIS provided whānau with the knowledge to make healthy choices that encouraged them to engage in meaningful and authentic ways. For example, whānau reported that they were preparing and talking more about healthy meals and the types of food provided in school lunches in their home, “now my children and I read the labels on packaged food!”

The school developed an FIS organisational booklet as a means of informing whānau and others about FIS in ways that built on local knowledge and realities. The booklet included: background knowledge of FIS; references to national and international research; the relevance of FIS to TKTT; tikanga around preparation, handling, and distribution of fruit; and the roles and responsibilities of school management, staff, BoT, parents, and students. The fortnightly school newsletter often reinforced the positive impact FIS was having on tamariki:

The staff and I are very happy with the FIS programme. The children’s awareness of eating more healthy food has changed their attitudes and learning behaviour. Other components of being healthy include healthy bodies and healthy minds. Therefore we will also look at healthy sleeping habits, washing our bodies, clean uniforms and road safety. (School newsletter; Haratua, Term 2)

Whānau surveys were developed by staff and given to whānau at the beginning of the FIS programme (Term 2) and later in Term 4. In both surveys, whānau were asked to evaluate the progress and changes that they noticed in their tamariki. The results showed that there were significant changes in the health and attitudes of their children since the introduction of FIS (i.e., “less school sores”, “enjoys fruit more!”, and “more vibrant in colour and alert”). Some parents also commented that their tamariki often selected and encouraged them to buy foods with the Heart Foundation tick.

Student wellbeing

At TKTT, FIS was seen to be aligned with a holistic notion of hauora in meeting the health, educational, social, spiritual, and cultural needs of their students. Most kaiako viewed the philosophical underpinnings of the FIS approach as being culturally aligned with traditional Māori concepts of hauora:

FIS weaves together healthy education and tikanga Māori. The Mauriora triangle—healthy bodies, minds, and spirits—is a living tikanga passed down by our tipuna and it is important that we build strong connections and understanding between our relationships as a people and the land to be open to the opportunities available. (Kaiako)

Students were often given roles and responsibilities (such as looking after manuhiri), to enrich their cultural pride within the school and community. The practice of manaakitanga and whakawhānaungatanga (the schools’ guiding principles), was encouraged and seen as an essential part of students’ identity. In addition, full-school Ringatü services were held on a regular basis to “retain the wairua base” and student successes were celebrated on a regular basis where children were often rewarded with fruit.

Specific initiatives in the four health areas

At the beginning of 2006, TKTT mainly focused on promoting and supporting healthy eating and physical activity. The FIS lead teacher had attended FIS cluster meetings and shared the ideas she gained with staff. Particular initiatives and professional development in each of the four areas are described below.

Healthy eating

Prior to the introduction of FIS, TKTT had identified a need to improve lunch options and the variety of food offered at the school canteen. Foods high in fat and sugar such as fish and chips and fizzy drinks have now been replaced with healthy alternatives such as sandwiches and they are continuing to work towards a healthier canteen. Flavoured sparkling mineral water with recyclable containers and wrappings is now available at the school canteen.

The cross-curricular junior school kaupapa for Term 1 included “staying healthy” and involved a lunchbox unit that looked at the range of foods students had in their lunchboxes. The different Māori names of the varieties of fruit were discussed and students compared the range of pips and seeds from the fruit that they received.
Students also talked about the differences between healthy foods such as fruit and those high in fat and sugar (such as chocolate biscuits). At the end of the unit, the Year 2 students were able to identify that fruit was often a lot bigger than a biscuit and was more likely to satisfy their hunger as well as being good for them. Teachers noticed that students were lethargic towards the end of the day so saved some of the fruit to eat later on in the afternoon. A “healthy day” was held as part of the unit and included physical games and activities, and a shared healthy lunch, planned with the sports co-ordinator. Whänau were encouraged to bring healthy food for celebrations and school events.

The FIS lead teacher designed a roster in consultation with staff and senior students, to organise responsibility for fruit distribution, collection, and sorting of food scraps. Food scraps are collected into buckets and given to whānau who owned pigs.

As FIS has evolved, some aspects have branched into other innovative programmes throughout the kura. A waste recycling and management programme was introduced to reduce the amount of rubbish and improve the health, safety, and image of the school. Students now take pride in maintaining a clean school environment. Initially the kura had problems with river rats getting into the leftover food, however, although this is now no longer a major issue, the spiritual and cultural significance of the Rangitaiki remains of particular importance to the school and the community. This has prompted a focus on students working alongside the local council to help clean the banks of their awa.

Physical activity

TKTT is working on developing a strong physical activity programme. Staff and senior students participated in a six-week “Down size me” programme, modelling healthy lifestyle changes. As part of FIS, the BoT made a commitment to fund a full-time sports co-ordinator within the kura to provide support, resources, and develop PE initiatives for kaiako and students. The sports co-ordinator “is passionate about the tamariki” and respected by the staff and whānau community. Kaiako now receive the relevant skills to be able to teach korikori tinana and hākinakina effectively. The school has since participated in a range of activities and interschool events such as athletics, Rangitaiki kapa haka o Mataatua, and waka ama with the help and organisation of the sports co-ordinator. He also managed the team who won the inaugural Eastern Bay Rangitaiki Top School 2006 competition. The principal is currently involved in discussions with two other schools within the region to establish a sports academy.

Sunsmart

As part of FIS, students at TKTT are required to wear a sunhat when outside, or encouraged to stay in the shade. The school now provides a range of affordable sunhats and students have a choice of caps, slouch, or bucket hats. The school has four mobile gazebos that are used at school and other events in the community and the school playground is protected with a new shade awning so that students are able to get optimum use during school intervals. TKTT is also planning to increase shade areas by installing new shade sails in other areas of the school.

Smokefree

School leaders noted that, although they had focused on learning about smokefree with support from Life Education, there was a future need within the kura to revisit the impact of smoking and to promote smokefree messages.

Student perspectives

During our visit to TKTT we talked to seven student fruit monitors from Years 6 to 8. These students thought learning about the four FIS areas was important because this would help them to make healthy choices in the future. The school’s emphasis on healthy eating and nutrition was having a powerful impact on students and had prompted them to make changes of their own and within their whānau:

When mum went shopping I told her to get some fruit when I never used to.

When I was young I never liked it when people smoked around me. Now I tell my dad to go outside and shut the door properly when he smokes. I tried to stop my mum from smoking in our car.

Students’ comments about FIS are shown in Figure 1 from a school PowerPoint presentation.

Figure 1 Students have a say
He pai ngā huarakau mō tō tinana
REQUEST JPEG

All tamariki were able to describe some school activities they had engaged in, at kura, in regard to the four areas. In particular, most students remembered Harold the Giraffe demonstrations of “how smoking makes your lungs black and YUK and you die quicker”. A few students were able to recall the effects of smoking on people close to them:

I saw my dad going to hospital because of it…heavy breathing and bad asthma.

Some students reported that the ways they kept active had changed and that they now actively participated in a broader range of physical activities such as horse riding and skateboarding at the local park:

I changed being a potato couch person and getting more active.

I started to get into it at school—going to Papa…who started showing us lots of skills.

Challenges

The progress being made at the kura as a result of FIS was promising and it was exciting for the kura and community to see what they had achieved in a relatively short time. School leaders noted that FIS permeated many aspects of the school and there were many changes they could still make. The kura is poised to strengthen their current understanding of FIS in order to explore further areas for development, for example, embedding some practices and policies throughout the curriculum.

All kaiako stated that FIS involved a school-wide effort and that it was consistently reinforced across the kura and in school assemblies. This was also supported by their staff PD meetings. However, they also commented that they would need ongoing support and would like more opportunities for whole-school PD as they further develop their understandings of what FIS and effective practices might look like in Māori education settings.

Sustainability and where to next?

At TKTT, staff, students, and whānau showed strong support for the FIS initiative. Their existing approaches to hauora had been strengthened as a result of FIS and staff, students, and whānau were all highly committed to continue the initiatives they were developing, as well as exploring other areas.

The koha of daily fruit through FIS had created a positive wairua in the TKTT school community. All those interviewed would like to see fruit provision continue in some form. Staff and whānau had discussed ways of continuing the provision of fruit but considered the MoH, local FISC, and their community (i.e., forming partnerships with local orchards) would need to support them.

Staff and students considered the school’s hauora focus was resulting in increased awareness about recycling and caring for the environment across the school. School approaches to nutrition were very successful in changing the food students ate both at home and at school and had resulted in improvements in student behaviour.
In the future, TKTT was planning a few initiatives that connected with FIS such as enviroschools and Paper for Trees. They were also looking at continuing work in the sunsmart and smokefree FIS areas.

Whiria te mātauranga kia hono
Weave the strands of knowledge

Ki te reanga o āpōpō
through the generations

Mā te kaha ki te manaaki i te tinana
So that striving towards good health

e noho tangata whenua ai mo ngā rā
becomes a natural and important part of

e heke mai ana
one’s life journey

Kia tu rangātira ai tātou
That we may stand tall and strong

i roto i tēnei ao hurihuri
in this ever-changing world

Glossary

ākonga	students
hākinakina	fitness
hapū	multi level mixed groups
hui	ceremonial, ritualised meeting
Iwi	tribe
kaiako	teachers
kaitiaki	guardians
kaumatua	respected elders
kaupapa	theme
kawa	protocol
kōhanga reo	preschool
korikori tinana	physical education
manaaki/manaakitanga	principles associated with duties and expectations of care and reciprocity
manuhiri	visitors
Ngāti Awa	Ngāti Awa is an iwi consisting of a confederation of 22 hapü located around Whakatane, Te Teko, and Matata in the North Island
pepeha	tribal sayings
Ringatū	the oldest and most spiritual Mäori prophetic movement in New Zealand. Its literal meaning is upraised hands
roopu	group
Te Karere	news bulletin on national television conveying Mäori issues of significance
tikanga	customs and traditions passed down
tangi	funeral
wairua	spiritual wellbeing
whakawhānaungatanga	process of getting to know one another
whare wananga	Māori tertiary learning institutions

References

Durie, M. (1994). Whaiora: Mäori health development. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Education Review Office. (2006). Supplementary review report: Te Teko Primary School, April 2006. Wellington: Author. Available at:
http://www.hps.org.nz/resources/R2495maoricombined.pdf
Jenkins, K. (1999). Stakeholder perceptions of the Mäori component of Health Promoting Schools. Auckland: Phoenix Research. Available at: http://www.hps.org.nz/resources
Pere, R. (1997). Te Wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom (2nd ed.). Gisborne, New Zealand: Ako Ako Global Learning Ltd.