Little River School
STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Student leaders 2023
Congratulations to Brendon, Fred, Nathan and Tinka, who were elected as our 2023 Student Leaders. All our candidates were outstanding examples of leadership and they will be included in the wider leadership team as deputies.
Tuakana / Teina
The Tuakana-Teina relationship, an integral part of traditional maori society, provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister, cousin) helps and guides a younger and less expert teina (traditionally a younger sibling or cousin of the same gender).
Tuakana/teina refers to the relationship between an older (tuakana) person and a younger (teina) person. Our older children mentor our younger ones (the tuakana has the knowledge and content to pass on to the teina). Home bases of varied ages are buddied together to support the growth and understanding of our values of community, respect and manaakitanga. A range of learning opportunities take place across the year to promote this system.
New Entrant pupils are assigned an individual buddy whom they will meet during their pre-entry visits. This person helps them settle into school life. They meet them at their home base and offer support in the playground.
Opportunities are provided across the school with more of a focus on our senior learners to contribute to our school.
This provides students with opportunities to grow and develop their own leadership capacity whilst supporting other students.
Year 7/8 students apply for leadership roles in which they feel best suited, linking to areas of interest.
Some of the student leadership roles and opportunities in the senior school are:
Whānau Group Leaders - responsible for co-ordinating regular interclass sport competitions
Sports monitors - allocating and distributing sports equipment
Playground monitors - supporting students with positive play initiatives
Physical Activity Leaders (PALS) - planning and implementing junior school fitness programmes
Student mentoring - tuakana teina. Supporting in and and out of class activities