At Buckle My Shoe, a big part of our curriculum is acknowledging Maori as tangata whenua (people of the land) and keeping the culture alive for our learners. Not only do we do this by exploring the language using waiata (song) and cultural resources, but we also get involved in significant place based learning.

Place based learning refers to utilising the community and environment to teach our learners about different concepts. In the NZ context, this provides opportunities to connect our learners with local Maori knowledge and history.  

We are lucky enough to have a significant historical landmark on our doorstep – the Gate Pa Memorial Reserve across the road. This site is special because it has strong links to where the battle of Gate Pa (Pukehinahina) took place.

One week, we organised several trips in small groups to the local reserve and our little ones just couldn’t wait to get going. After putting on their high-viz safety vests and going over the excursion rules, they were ready and eager to leave the centre carpark. As they walked on the footpath with their buddy, they had discussions about what they could see and where they were going.

Across the road there are also many shops and business with big logos, so this naturally sparked conversations around their favourite shops and who had been to which shop before. Reading symbols is a big part of literacy and is another way our little ones become familiar with the world around them.

When they approached the lights, they had turns pressing the button and waiting patiently for the green man to appear. This was an opportunity for our little learners to practice reading visual symbols to represent different things. For example: knowing when the red man appears, it means stop and when the green man appears, it means go.

As they reached the domain, they noticed a special arch near the entrance. After doing some research we found that this was a carved tomokanga (gateway) that incorporated carvings of Tū the god of war and Rongo the god of peace.

Some of our little ones were fascinated with this as they had seen carvings in some of their favourite maori myths and legends and were excited to be seeing these intricacies up close and to be able to learn more about the battle of Gate Pa.

We also found 8 carved pillars (pou) on the edge of the domain and spent time exploring and having discussions about the different features and patterns we could see. After doing some further research, we found out that each pou represented the main people associated with the battle.

As we moved deeper into the domain, we noticed the beautiful trees and tranquillity of being in nature. Our tamariki spread out and began exploring different trees, plants and even found some insects.

Some of the trees were so old that their roots were growing above the ground, creating a perfect surface for climbing and exploring. The wide open spaces were inviting and also encouraged our little ones to run and explore their shadows along the footpath.

After returning back to the centre, there were many discussions about the domain and all the wonderful things they had seen and experienced on their excursion. It would be great to visit the domain again to strengthen our links to this culturally historic site. Perhaps we could sing some waiata (songs) next time we visit? 😊