Workshop for Leiana Lambert
Cloverlea School has spent the past eight years transforming its curriculum to better reflect Aotearoa and honour Te Tiriti, ensuring that tamariki see, hear, and feel their cultural identity in all areas of learning. Working alongside iwi, the school has deepened staff understanding of history, privilege, and Mātauranga Māori, embedding these into a locally grounded curriculum. This journey is brought to life through Te Wheke, a symbolic tomokanga unveiled in 2025, where each carving represents learning pathways across subjects. Through this approach, Cloverlea aims to empower students with strong cultural knowledge, critical thinking skills, and a deep connection to the land, preparing them to contribute thoughtfully to Aotearoa’s future.
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E tū ana ahau i raro i te taumarumaru o Titirangi maunga
Ka titiro atu au i ngā wai o Waiau
Ka whakatohea ana tāku waka o Takitimu
Ko au he mokopuna o Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa
E tu nei aku waewae i tōku papa whenua, Ko Te Poho o Tama-te-rangi
Ko Sam tōku hoa rangatira
Ko Khaleb rātou Ko Awatea, Ko Tumai, Ko Te Koha ōku tamariki tāne
Our kura, Cloverlea School, has been on a transformational journey over the last 8 years, deconstructing and reindigenising our curriculum to ensure that our tamariki see, hear and feel our cultural identity in all aspects of learning. We strongly believe that our school should reflect that we live in Aotearoa and that our classrooms and all our spaces must honour Te Tiriti.
As part of our journey, we have worked alongside iwi, focussed on staff learning by developing staff understanding of the privilege that exists within our educational system and the history that underpins this. From this learning we have developed a curriculum that is based on local history and Aotearoa history ensuring that Mātauranga Māori is taught, seen and valued.
This is now captured and shared through our tomokanga, Te Wheke, that was unveiled in October 2025. Each carving represents a narrative that our tamariki will learn social sciences, science, the arts, technology and health / PE through over their 6 years, with the vision that each of our leavers will stand confidently while being able to share the historical knowledge they have learnt.
We believe that our tamariki will contribute to Aotearoa by knowing more about the ground they walk on and will be able to question and critically think about future policy as they are our future decision makers.