A pōwhiri for new Ōtamarākau School principal Aneta Smith was held at Ōtamarākau Marae.
A pōwhiri for new Ōtamarākau School principal Aneta Smith was held at Ōtamarākau Marae.
Aneta Smith was welcomed home in more ways than one last week.
Aneta is the new principal of the Ōtamarākau School and a pōwhiri to mark her start last week was held at Ōtamarākau Marae, attended by more than 200 school and community members.
Aneta’s past position was as deputy principal at Te Puke Primary School and before that, she was deputy principal at the Ōtamarākau School.
“What also made it so special was that I whakapapa to Ngāti Mākino which [is the iwi] of this area here - so basically I’ve come back home,” she says.
“It was a beautiful celebration where we could all come together and celebrate the transition from my previous role to the new one of tumuaki [principal] of Ōtamarākau School.”
Staff from her past school and Te Kahui Ako o Te Puke (Te Puke’s community of learning) schools were also at the pōwhiri.
Aneta says in her new role, she feels she is not only representing herself, but also “my whānau, Ngāti Mākino in general and those who have all been here before me. So as well as this role, I am taking over the goals and aspirations of our local iwi, what they are wanting for our tamariki, for our mokopuna who are attending this school as well and of course, for the community.”
While deputy principal at Ōtamarākau, Aneta took on the role of across school leader for learning support for Te Kāhui Ako. At the time Andrea Dance was principal and they both moved to Te Puke Primary School at the same time.
“Going to Te Puke Primary School, working in a bigger school, helped me to grow in terms of my leadership and that has set me up in my leadership role here,” Aneta said.
“Andrea supported me when I was here as DP and she supported me in terms of my role as kahui ako across school leader - she is all about growing leaders.”
The role with Te Kahui Ako o Te Puke presented more opportunities.
“While in that role I had the wonderful opportunity of working under Jill Weldon from Te Puke Intermediate, who was the lead teacher when I started in that role,” Aneta said.
“My experience... has given me the skillset to be able to access support for our students here and not just that, but I also learned how to find programmes that extend our students so, not only those who are requiring support, but those who are gifted and talented as well.”
Aneta says she already has a relationship with, and is looking forward to working with, the iwi.
“We want to work with our iwi in terms of what would they like us to be teaching our tamariki because, with the implementation of the localised curriculum, that’s going to be a big part of that.”
The school’s location is one of its attractions.
“We are very fortunate out here, we are very blessed when you look out to the land that our school sits on, the access we have to our moana [ocean], to the awa - the river - to our maunga [mountain] behind the school - it’s right at our fingertips, so a lot of our learning is going to be based around that so our students become confident in who they are and where they come from.”
Matariki at Ōtamarākau Marae.
On day two of her new principalship, there was an early start as the school celebrated Matariki with another, this time early morning, visit to the marae.
The school is much smaller than Te Puke Primary, with a roll of just 87.
“It’s a beautiful little school and community and there are lots of great things happening in terms of learning.
“It’s a smaller community, a close-knit community where everybody’s only too happy to help out where they can and I guess that’s typical of that farming community where everybody knows one another. The students belong to everybody - it’s not just individual families or individual students - we are all here to grow and support one another.”
One of the goals Aneta has set is to push the roll above 100.
“We don’t have a zone out here and there are enrolment packs at the office if someone is looking for a new school. And the fact that we go up to year 8, full primary - it all adds up.
