Ngā Manu (birds) hold a significant place of importance for Māori. The birds of Papanui Bush hold significance as sources of kai, and feathers for cloaks. They acted as important messengers with their behaviours indicating weather, death and grief, and foretelling the future.
Whether as messengers, teachers or guardians, birds provide an opportunity to connect to our place in the world we navigate. Establishing these connections is a key way to build the sense of belonging the Tira system aims to develop.
Birds provide the opportunity to establish connections through numerous whakatauki and metaphor.
The feathers can be viewed as all of us within a tira or school, including learners, teachers, whanau and community. When we all work together we provide the strength to fly.
Alternatively the feathers can be viewed as the skills and attributes we develop that provide us the strength to take flight.
Papanui Bush
The word Papanui has meaning as a stage in a tree, used as a seat by a bird snarer. Papanui Bush was once full of birds that were regularly snared by Māori. Recent community projects in our area demonstrate the bringing together of people to restore the ecosystem , cultural heritage and bring native birds back to the area. This demonstrates Manaakitanga, Kotahitanga and Kaitiakitanga we wish to install as values for our akonga within Tira.
