Kindness is Key:
Kindness is literally a big part of the foundation our school is built upon. We have five 'foundation stone values' - Pōhatu Tūmu - that underpin everything we believe and everything we do at Western Heights.
One of those stones is named Manaakitia - meaning Kindness, Care, Respect, Guardianship, and Empathy.
Kindness sits in the WHAT circle in our Porotaka Pounamu - our Pounamu Circle that ties everything in our school all together.
Simon Sinek introduced us to the Golden Circle - where we always start with Why.
We now have our Te Pounamu Porotaka - the Pounamu Circle - where we always start with Who.
Te Pounamu Porotaka starts with WHO, with people, because, according to the whakatauki that asks what is the most important thing in the world, it is people.
We need to care about and for other people. Love them as we love ourselves.
Our WHO is also the Land—Papatuanuku—our Mother Earth.
We cannot have people without land, and without Mother Earth, we cannot live. We must love Papatuanuku as we love our own dear mother—caring about her, caring for her.
Pounamu:
Pounamu is precious in Te Ao Māori - connecting people to the land - the cornerstone of WHO we are. Pounamu is precious within our WHS Kaupapa. We present it as a taonga to recognise our teachers when they achieve Fully Registered Teacher status and when they gain higher academic honours.
We present it as a taonga to each of our year six student award winners upon their graduation.
Pounamu is Green - one of our two primary WHS colours.
Purple:
Purple is the colour of leadership - denoting learning and agency - a cornerstone of WHY we are. Purple is the colour of Kings, representing leadership, honour, dignity and respect. It is the second of our two primary WHS colours.
Yellow:
Yellow is the colour of hope, and HOPE is a cornerstone of HOW we are. Yellow is the colour of daffodils - another symbol of hope in the fight against cancer. It is the colour of positivity - with a connection to Appreciative Inquiry.
Pink:
Pink represents kindness, which is a cornerstone of our work at WHS. Pink is the colour of our hearts, and kindness is at the heart of everything we do—from Restorative Practice to Kaitiakitanga to Pink Shirt Day.
We recently celebrated Pink Shirt Day at Western Heights.
Nationally and officially, the message is anti-bullying, but we focus on kindness instead.
Bullying is rare at Western Heights. Being mean or unkind - that happens here sometimes because children are children, and they sometimes forget the messages we teach them.
Bullying is not doing or saying something mean, hurtful or unkind.
Bullying is about an imbalance of power - someone stronger taking advantage of their power over someone weaker.
It is ongoing, malicious and done with the intent to hurt. It is not an act of anger, it is a deliberate act of malice.
I believe it is important to use the right words. We don't call an act of anger, frustration, unkindness or even meanness, bullying. It needs to be ongoing and deliberate to be bullying.
At the same time, there is no place for unkindness or meanness—in words or deeds—and when we hear of it, we deal with it immediately. The process for dealing with it is Restorative Practice - which I will write about in a forthcoming newsletter.
