Our People: Mel Taite-Pitama
A catch up with the principal of Tuahiwi School Mel Taite-Pitama.
1. Tell us a bit about your self - where are you from, your family and what are your hobbies?
My father is from Tauranga and my mother from the Waikato. They raised me in Woodend where I did my primary schooling and then attended Rangiora High School. I lived in Tuahiwi most of my adolescent years. I have a brother who is a painter and owns his own painting business, The Paint Boss.
I am married to Mathias Pitama and we have three children: Sheldon, 22, lives in Brisbane and is a semi professional rugby league player doing his apprenticeship in Civil Construction. Jadah is 19 and is at university studying Māori Indigenous Studies and Te Reo Māori hoping to be a teacher, and Halle, 14, who is at Haeata Community Campus hoping to be a journalist and professional rugby player.
My 3 year old grandson Te Koha is the most beautiful boy. I'd walk across coals for him.
I play touch rugby for Canterbury. We are about to go to Auckland for Nationals in March.
I love sport, I rode horses for a long time, good food is important to me and so is travelling, but I'm a girl too...I love dressing up and putting on a great dress and red lippy!
2. What is the best thing about living/working in North Canterbury?
I love that work is close to home and that where I work is like being at home. I have always lived in NC, my husband and I decided when we had children we would never move them away from their grandparents.
It's important to us that our children know who they are and where they belong.
3. What are the three best things about Tuahiwi School?
The whānau and tamariki - they are super cool.
We are unique - There is no other school doing what we are doing in NC and I would say in Chch. Ask me what we do differently and the list is infinite.
The committed, dedicated staff who come to work every day to inspire and motivate our learners whilst nurturing them alongside their whānau.
4. Tell us something wonderful about Tuahiwi that we might not know.?
In the 80's, at the time my husband was about 8 years old, his mum and dad would drop him off at the 5 Cross Roads and he would walk from one end of the pā to the other. He would end up at Aunty Patricia Silk-Anglem's house on the corner of Bramley's Road.
On his journey about 27 of the maybe 35 houses he passed were relations. He would visit aunties and uncles, taua, poua and cousins while his parents were at the marae.
5. What is the best, most rewarding part of your job?
I love creating extraordinary opportunities for people. I'm always looking to see what and how I can help young people succeed.
When you have been in education for as long as I have you cross many people's paths and when they come back to you when they are adults and they still have a love for you, that's cool....you know you have been a positive influence in their lives, and for many made a massive difference.
Every day is different when you are in a kura, I love that...I never know what the day will bring or who I might meet.
Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.
This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
.
Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
-
85.6% Yes
-
13.2% No
-
1.1% Other - I'll share below
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
Waimakariri district plan faces more delays amid changing rules
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Changing Government legislation is causing headaches for council staff, as Waimakariri’s new District Plan is set to be delayed again.
Waimakariri District Council development planning manager Matt Bacon said he was relieved when the last of the public hearings ended last week.
But with final council reports due on December 13, staff will have just two working days to present the final District Plan on December 17. A district plan helps to control and manage the development of the district or city.
‘‘We are working through what it looks like and we will update the council at its meeting on December 3,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘But we will likely seek another extension from the environment minister and the Resource Management Act (RMA) minister.’’
The council first notified its draft District Plan in September 2021, but within months legislation was introduced with new medium density residential housing standards (MDRS).
‘‘We needed to call for further submissions and we had to create a separate hearing panel to consider the plan variations to allow for the MDRS,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘We have tried to merge the process as much as possible, as well as looking at re-zoning and incorporating other new legislation.’’
When the draft plan was first notified there was no National Policy Statement (NPS) for Indigenous Biodiversity, but an NPS was introduced - and then replaced.
The Natural and Built Environment Act came into being last year and then repealed, and then there is the NPS on Urban Development and the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
The Government is now working on more RMA reforms and Environment Canterbury is working on the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement.
And then there is the Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which includes three proposed housing developments in Waimakariri - two of them outside of the future urban development areas identified in the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
All three housing developments in the Bill have been included in submissions to the District Plan, including a proposed 850-home development at Ohoka, near Rangiora, which is also subject to an Environment Court appeal.
‘‘We haven’t seen the detail, so whether it is the same proposals, we don’t know, but they are different processes so we have to just keep doing what we are doing, until we are told otherwise,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘It might just be a timing thing, but we just don’t know.’’
Bacon said delaying the District Plan until new legislation is in place is not an option.
‘‘We are looking at what we can control and having a watching brief, and we will look at transitional timings because we don’t always have to immediately change planning documents when new legislation comes in.’’
Planning manager Wendy Harris said navigating changing Government legislation is a normal part of council planning work.
‘‘If we waited we wouldn’t do anything and we would go nowhere.’’
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Loading…
