Having a sense of cultural identity and celebrating it here at kindergarten is what has been happening at Central Kids Homedale Kindergarten ‘Te waihanga hononga’, these tamariki are making connections between people, places and the things in their world.

Kaiako are noticing and supporting their increasing interest in kapa haka, furthering their knowledge of who they are, and the places they all connect to.  This group of tamariki all share an interest in their own culture and through kapa haka – this interest is supported and extended.

Recently we have been using YouTube as our forum to follow their All Black hero’s in performing the haka, as well as this we are watching local kapa haka groups, where some of our tamariki have affiliations to and are able to recognise their own whānau.

These tamariki are competent and confident learners, strong in their identity, language and culture – we enjoy revisiting this kaupapa regularly.  It is fantastic to observe their faces, to see how proud they are to be supported with these learning opportunities.