Kakariki Kohanga Reo
Our Kohanga Reo was founded in September 1982, making it one of the first Te Kohanga Reo to be established in the country. Our first graduates are well into their thirties, raising tamariki of their own.
Over the course of its life the kohanga has had four name changes. Starting life as Te Aniwaniwa Te Kohanga Reo in 1982, while under the care of Oriwa Ormsby and Judy Cooper, it was changed to Te Kohanga Reo O Te Hauru in 1985, while under the care of Toti Peeni, Moe Davis and Maa Pukepuke. It later changed again to Te Kohanga Reo O Kakariki Marae in 1989, with the arrival of Hone and Ansie Lee.
A final name change came about in November 2009, when the kohanga reo relocated from Green Bay (away from the Marae) to Glen Eden becoming Te Kohanga Reo O Kakariki. It is impossible to talk about our kohanga without first acknowledging Kakariki Marae, born in 1976, it was the first marae to be built within a school, as one of the earliest urban Marae to be used for Hui, Tangihanga and Waananga.
At the time when such Maori initiatives were thin on the ground, Maori whanau hurried to embrace, first the marae, and then six years later, the birth of our kohanga. Some twenty nine years on and the Green Bay area has seen a dramatic decline of Maori whanau, the socio economic demographics of the area have changed. These days our kohanga continues to operate on a roll never greater than 28, whereas in earliers the roll stood at 36.
Today, we attract whanau as far as Onehunga, from Massey across to Laingholm and various suburbs in between. By drawing from these outlying suburbs we have survived in to the new millenium. However, we have also attributed our longevity to those whanau who have pioneered the kohanga reo movement in Waitakere. Kakariki is a true testiment to the tenacity and courage of these ground breaking people, who were the West Auckland Maori Community of that day.
The foundations that were laid in Kakariki were done so with open hearts, a dtermination of wills and with the spirit of hope. Whanau who enrol their tamariki at Te Kohanga Reo O Kakariki will add their own thread to the rich fabric of this history.
