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Our BestStart Pipiwai Road Korowai

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At BestStart Pipiwai Road we felt like there was something missing from our transition process when our te Ruma Kakano (under twos) tamariki transitioned to the Over 2s. Towards the end of the transition process, tamariki spend a lot more time having visits in the Over Twos space, and because of this we almost felt like we didn't get the chance to have a proper goodbye to the tamariki who we had taught and built relationships with. 

Although proud of how independent our tamariki had become, we wanted to do something more meaningful to acknowledge their time with us, and also acknowledge their journey going forward. We now have a korowai to adorn our tamariki in for their poroporoaki/farewell, and a graduation wall to acknowledge their connection and contribution to our Kakano whanau. When this wall gets full we will transfer them to a book for our tamariki to read at their level.

The Korowai is a traditional woven Maori cloak. The Korowai is worn as a mantle of prestige and honour, is symbolic of leadership, and includes the obligation to care for the people and environment. Through adorning our transitioning tamariki in our new korowai, we believe were are sending them off as confident and competent little tamariki on their new learning journey as "Big Kids" (we sometimes call the Over Twos).