Bringing the Uara to life one day at a time

Kidsfirst’s Uara Waypoints are shining bright as teams weave them into everyday activities. 

Social media posts about Ngā Whetū o Kidsfirst Uara continue to be popular, yet again demonstrating the power that our ‘people posts’ have to connect with whānau and Kidsfirst supporters. Posts about our Uara award recipients can be up to 300% more popular than our every day content.

Out and about in kindergartens, teaching teams are linking the Uara at every level – making sure they are visible in the environment, taking opportunities to introduce them into conversations, and making sure that whānau start to connect with them, too. 

At Kidsfirst Wigram, Felicity and the team have put emphasis on two key Uara.

“This is all at the heart of what we do,” she says, “Whakapono – walking the talk. Whanaungatanga is our connection with our community and so on. The biggest thing we’ve got is the relationships.”

This term, Manaakitanga is under the spotlight. 

“We started to unpack Manaakitaga and asked ourselves what does this Waypoint look like in our setting? We started with ourselves as teachers. We wanted tamariki to be safe, we wanted them to be kind, and we wanted them to be respectful to people, places and things. We asked our community what their ideas were. From that, we were able to plan the Bee project.”

“We’ve been focusing on values for years, because values are the essential core of our mōhiotanga. We ask parents, what are their values? And most often it’s respect and kindness.”

Felicity and her team are always looking for ways to connect the values families hold themselves to the Uara, as she explains in this video. 

Do you have an Uara story of your own to share? If you would like to be featured in video or story content about the ways they’re coming to life for you and your team, drop us a message here. We’re looking for stories to share with one another, whānau and wider audiences, too. 

Whakamanamana and whakapono save the day at Kidsfirst Wakatipu.

And if you haven’t already, please complete the Uara Adoption Survey. Everybody’s voice matters.