Te Whare Wananga o Te Maro

Matua Grant came to visit us (Rimu) about our Whare. Well really to tell the year 7's about it. 

The Whare, also known as Te Whare Wananga o Te Maro rests at the back of the field. On the front it has 3 carvings and rope going through the hands of the carvings. It also has a head the faces the north. They always face the north because the sun rises over the head of the Whare.

The Whare itself represents an ancestor. It has a head, ribs, a backbone, two arms and two legs, just like a human. The backbone is called Tahuhu and the Ribs are Heke.

On to carvers now use nails as hair. There are three carvings holding a rope. They represent the three tribes or iwi in Tauranga. The top one is Ngati Ranginui. He is from the Takitumu waka. The next one is Ngati Pukenga. And the bottom one is Ngai Te Rangi from Matatua. They together are holding a rope that has each house in the school. Each fortnight Rimu go to the Whare for our Hui. When we step inside we have to take off our shoes. On the front of Matai there are 4 animals. There is the Tuna, the Crab, the Mako Shark and the Tuatara.

Valentines Day

St Valentines was a Roman priest who was secretly organising weddings for soldiers. He was jailed then sentenced to death by the King on February 14th AD 270. We exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers, with our special valentines. A special valentine is someone that you love.


American spend up to 3.6 billion dollars on Valentines gift each year. 50 million roses are sold each year on Valentines Day. 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentines day are men and 27% are women.15% of the US women send themselves flowers on Valentines day. Eros is the greek god of love and his roman form is Cupid.

Waitangi Day

Today we did a 45 minute inquiry about he treaty of Waitangi, this is what I learnt.

The reason why these people are holding the banner is because the crown stole the peoples land and the crown had to give it back. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on the 6th of February 1840. The treaty was signed by 240 chiefs and 13 of them were woman. Te Tiriti o Waitangi was commemorated in the year of 1934 and wasn't celebrated until the year of 1974. The treaty was witnessed by Mike Busby, Henry Williams, Richard Taylor, John Mason, Samuel Ironside and James Stuart Freeman. In total there was nine copies of the treaty and signed by multiple tribes. In schools this is an important to teach to kids so that they know their history.