Notes

Te Oranga Mauri – Wellbeing Storybooks have been developed to provide kaiako and whānau with new resources to support the wellbeing of ākonga, using stories that address mental health issues caused by Covid-19 and its lockdowns. The storybooks are inspired by children’s real-life experiences.

With young people experiencing higher levels of mental health struggles than ever before, many have returned to their places of learning after lockdowns with increased anxiety.

The books were developed as part of the 2020 Wellbeing Initiative which has a focus on providing ākonga with mental health and wellbeing education.

The series has been designed and developed for ākonga from early learning through to junior primary, which is unique among curriculum resources, covering a wide age group and aligning across multiple curricula.

The books have been developed for all children but have a particular focus on ensuring that Pacific and Māori children can see themselves in the stories; as well as providing relevant books to Māori medium and Pacific immersion units.

Te Oranga Mauri – Wellbeing Storybooks resource consists of five storybooks written in different languages:

Te Whānau Aroha o Tipene (written in te reo Māori only).
Sammy’s Koha (English and te reo Māori).
‘Amanaki Learns at Home | Ako ‘a ‘Amanaki ‘i ‘api (English and Lea Faka-Tonga, and in Lea Faka-Tonga).
Kiara Loves White Sunday | E fiafia tele Kiara i le Lotu Tamaiti (English and Gagana Sāmoa, and in Gagana Sāmoa).
A Kite for Tiare | E Manu Tiare (English and te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, and in te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani).
Real-life experiences
The stories are based on children’s real-life experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, with the authors coming from within their communities.

The stories are designed to support the mental wellbeing of children. They recognise that the Covid-19 lockdowns had a huge effect on children – especially tamariki in Auckland.

The purpose of the stories was to capture that moment in time, providing children who were affected by the pandemic with an opportunity to discuss the events of the past. They allow them to unpack emotions or thoughts which may not have been addressed at that time.

The work is informed by advice that the aftermath of the pandemic and lockdowns were still being felt by many families. The books are a tool to deal with those memories and to have those conversations that children and families might have just pushed down.