Kia ora e te whānau,
Today the Mayor of Lower Hutt Campbell Barry dropped into our Kura to talk to our wonderful Tu Rangatira.
Campbell Barry is in his second term as the Mayor of Lower Hutt. He was first elected to the role in 2019, making history as New Zealand’s youngest ever elected Mayor of a city.
The tamariki learnt about some of what the Mayor’s role entails: the projects that are currently in progress, and the many challenges that he and the city face with the infrastructure due to climate change. He also shared that he loves to be hands on with the public especially the younger people and will happily join in with groups, throwing a ball around, or going ten pin bowling.
The ākonga were invited to ask him questions after his talk and he faced some very thought provoking ones such as; what did he like about his role, what had he learnt from being a Mayor, was he easily distracted, and had he always wanted to be a leader.
Mayor Barry shared with our Tu Rangatira what he considered to be the most important things about being a leader, ie, being open, being able to listen, being a good role model and having empathy!
Aysha showed Mayor Barry our beautiful Te Puāwai, our kākahu taonga and told him about the history of the tākano. Mayor Barry also has a Korowai that was gifted to him. He wears it on special occasions such as citizenship ceremonies!
Mayor Barry was also very impressed with the recent addition of our much used and very valued Whakaruruhau (canopy).
Before he left, the Mayor gave our Tu Rangatira 2 wise pieces of advice. The first one was to take the skills and leadership learnt during their Tawhai journey with them to intermediate.
The second piece of advice was that, in these times we have never been so connected as we are through, technology, social media, communication etc, we are the most disconnected in terms of relationships, talking to each other face to face etc.
So what we need to do is check in with others and don’t be afraid to ask them if they are ok!