Te Ao Maarama

Te Ao Maarama means “the natural world  - the world of light”. When an orator rises to speak on a marae, he will often announce himself by saying:  Tihi mauriora   (The breath, the energy of life)   Ki te whaiao, ki te ao mārama   (To the dawnlight, to the world of light).  The words refer to a world constantly emerging from darkness into light.

Te Ao Maarama means to us:

• Our name represents our whaanau as a family who are constantly moving into the “light”
• Working towards being the best we can be, for our community, our families and our school
• That our character, behaviour and actions show that we are consistently aiming to have a positive impact on those around us
• Everyone in our family has a positive contribution to make to our whaanau in terms of the academic, sports, social responsibilities etc of our whaanau 
• Our name also means that as a family we look out for each other, support each other and ‘keep each other in line’; so that we are all in the same boat; heading in the same direction
• We respect our elders and care for our young

Whaanau Values: 

• Respect
• Aiming high
• Being the best
• Compassion
• Care
• Love
• Family