As Auckland stretches into a tenth week in lockdown, schools in the region remain closed.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi tumuaki Hare Rua sees the toll the ongoing restrictions are taking on tauira and kaiako.
"Our tamariki are definitely worn out and some of them are in quite tough situations, where home isn't easy," he tells The Hui.
The school has continued to provide kai for whānau, sending out food parcels throughout the current lockdown.
When schools do open their classroom doors again, one thing is certain, all teachers will have to be fully vaccinated by January 1, 2022.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi is a busy whānau hub, with a Kōhanga Reo, Kura Tuatahi, and Wharekura as well as having kaumātua flats near the school grounds.
"I'm fully supportive of protecting our whakapapa," Rua says
"Protecting our own and caring for our own people and no one else is going to do it we've got to do."
Although most of the teachers are in support of vaccination, there are a small handful of teachers still unsure about being vaccinated.
Rua believes a lot of this is driven by fear, and the amount of misinformation about COVID-19 isn't helping.
But the reality is those teachers who continue to refuse vaccination won't be able to work in schools. It's a path Rua hopes he doesn't have to go down.
"They're not only kaiako, they're our whānau - that's how it is at kura," he says.
"They're whānau, they're part of our community as well."
Rua says kura around the motu are already understaffed as it is.
"If we lose a kaiako unit, that's huge for us because we don't have this pool or puna of magic kaiako and people just with so much to offer our tamariki."
The kura is also driving vaccination efforts for students 12 years and older, and currently have a vaccination rate of 75 percent.
As well as lifting vaccination rates, Rua says another major challenge is ensuring tamariki and kaiako are supported when they do return to kura.
He's noticing the cumulative effects of Auckland's lockdowns on his students.
"We started noticing behaviors from tamariki who wouldn't normally behave in a particular way. But we started seeing these behaviors coming out in multiple tamariki," Rua says.
"We need to deal with that and then plan to move forward and do the best we can."
Made with support from Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air.
