Fiona King
Presiding Member of Ngāti Toa School Board
Kia ora e te whānau,
It is a great privilege to serve on the board for Ngāti Toa School. I grew up in Hastings where I attended Taikura Rudolf Steiner school. After travelling to visit family in England, volunteering in Brazil and cooking in a Melbourne cafe I moved to Wellington to study nursing. After living and working in Wellington for 8 years I moved to Titahi Bay with my husband Brent. We have grown our family here. Ko Charlotte (8) raua, ko Amy (4) aku tamariki.
When Charlotte started school she had a fluent reo Māori speaking teacher. It was so exciting to see the children absorb the language like sponges – it inspired me to begin my own reo Māori journey. I’m so grateful for this taonga and I hope our school can support and inspire all our tamariki and their whānau who are engaged on this journey.
I enjoy gardening and have been involved with Garden to Table and now Enviro-school kaupapa here at kura. I’m passionate about protecting childhood from the influences of too much and too soon. I believe that connecting with te taiao (the natural world) is of great importance to the wellbeing of our tamariki.
If you spot me in the playground or garden, haere mai, kōrero mai, I would love to meet and get to know more of our community!
Fiona
Kathleen O’Hare
Tumuaki
Tēnei te mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
Ko Tokomaru te waka
Ko Taranaki te maunga mātua,
Ko Pukeatua te paemaunga
Ko Te Āti Awa te iwi
Ko Ngati Hamua te hapū
Ko Waiwhetu te awa
Ko Arohanui ki te Tāngata te wharenui
Ko Kathleen O’Hare tōku ingoa
Kia ora koutou
My name is Kathleen O’Hare.
I was brought up in Cannons Creek and have spent the majority of my education journey here in Porirua, first as a student at Russell School, then Viard College and later returning as a teacher in this amazing city. I am proud of who I am and where I come from – Porirua Proud!
I feel it to be a privilege to be the tumuaki here at Ngāti Toa School. We have amazing staff, teachers and support staff, who have our tamariki at the heart of all our decisions. We are super excited about the learning journey and we see ourselves as all being teachers and learners.
I am looking forward to seeing where our learning will take us over the next few years – the opportunities and the possibilities are endless.
‘Whaia te iti kahurangi, ki te tūoho koe, me he maunga teitei’
Jeff Hunkin
Fakaalofa lahi atu, talofa lava, kia ora, hello!
My name is Jeff Hunkin and it’s a real privilege to be a part of the Ngāti Toa School community.
Four years ago my wife Jess and our two kids – Willow (6.5) and Levi (3.5) – turned the key as homeowners to our first house here in Tītahi Bay. Both Jess and I grew up just over the hill in Tawa, and are today proud to call The Bay our home.
By day I’m the Content Delivery Manager for ACC New Zealand, leading a team of creatives to bring our organisation’s purpose to life on our website and social media channels. By night you’ll find me singing in my covers band, working out at the local CrossFit gym, or playing Minecraft with the kids.
I raised my hand to be on the Board of Trustees because I want to use my passion for people, experience in leadership, and desire to serve as key skills to help Ngāti Toa School be the best kura it can be. Under Kathleen’s leadership I truly believe the school has a bright future, and I pledge to do all I can to help our school fulfil its potential.
That of course is no mean feat and can’t be accomplished alone. Thank you in advance to our kaiako (teachers), kaimahi (staff), parents, and members of our wider community for pitching in. Together, I’m confident all students can walk out of our gates and into the world with mana, confidence, and self-belief.
Please feel free to reach out to me or any of the members of our board any time you’d like to chat.
Fa’afetai lava, fakaue lahi, ngā mihi,
Jeff
Rebekah Siave
Kia ora koutou, talofa lava, warm greetings!
Nō Airani me Ingarangi ōku tīpuna.
Kei Tītahi ahau e noho ana.
Ko Rebekah Siave tōku ingoa.
It’s my privilege to serve on Ngāti Toa School Board as a parent representative. I am so grateful for our staff and the love and energy that they pour into ngā tamariki. I love to parent help so if one of my children is going on a trip, I’ve probably put my hand up to come and tautoko our kaiako and tamariki. My husband Dan and I are raising four kind, creative, open-minded and reasonably loud tamariki. Our eldest has already graduated from Ngāti Toa School but our younger three are current ākonga. Dan and I are both from big families and want our tamariki to know and celebrate their whakapapa (New Zealand, Samoan, Irish, English, German and Scottish). We are active in our local Church.
Before having children, I was involved in youth work for over a decade. When I became a mum I joined Playcentre (a whānau co-operative Early Childhood Education option for tamariki from birth until school) where I had 11 amazing years. In each of these roles, I worked in both management and governance where people and relationships were always central. The neuroscience tells us that tamariki and rangatahi (actually all humans) excel when they feel safe, have strong, supportive relationships that build their self-worth and they get to explore their world in ways that make sense to them. I want that to be the experience for all of the tamariki and their whānau here at Ngāti Toa School. I believe that everyone in our school community has something special to add to make that happen.
‘Mā tōu rourou, mā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.’ (With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive).
Ngā mihi
Rebekah
Michael Rongo – Parent Representative
Trish Masoe – Ngāti Toa Rangatira Representative
Jude Nieland – Staff Representative