Hōtaka Ako | Learning programmes
With learning experiences available across the gallery, museum, and library, ‘what we learn and how we learn it’ is more dynamic than ever. With our ‘pick-a-path’ approach, you can design a learning adventure that suits your students, whether that means exploring a broad range of topics, diving deep into a specific subject, or creating a blend of both.
The choice is yours!
Akoranga | Lessons
Location
Year
Term
Theme
Book a special opportunity to dive deeper into taonga, toi, and storytelling across Taranaki.
With Mīharo, there are boundless ways for your ākonga to connect, engage, and explore. From small-group experiences across one or all of our whare, to learning on the marae, discovering stories in te taiao, or engaging directly in your own classroom—each pathway offers a rich and flexible way to deepen learning.
Tautoko mo te Haerenga Marae |
Marae Visit Support
Puke Ariki Museum and the Govett Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre can join your school’s marae visit!
Our kaiako love to support this kaupapa with interactive activities that focus on creativity, collaboration, and meaningful engagement with your planned learning experiences. We cover a range of topics, including taonga pūoro, tipare, wharenui, whakairo, haki, and manutukutuku. We can tailor these to align with your visit.
Requirements:
Sessions are designed for groups of up to 15 students, ensuring a high quality, interactive learning experience. Each activity runs for 45 minutes or shorter by negotiation.
Contact us early to ensure our availability and talk with us about your kaupapa, timing, and the topics you’d like us to bring along.
Location: Off site
Schedule: All year
Duration: 45 mins (sessions are designed to be part of rotations)
Hikoingia Ngā Tapuwae |
Walk in the Footsteps
Step into history with this powerful half‑day field trip exploring key North Taranaki battle sites alongside expert guide and kaiako Hoani Eriwata (Te Atiawa).
As you walk the landscapes where pivotal events unfolded, ākonga uncover the people, tensions, and decisions that sparked the Taranaki War of 1860–1863—known as the ‘first’ Taranaki War.
By examining the historic sites, students compare Māori and British military strategies and gain a deeper understanding of how geography, leadership, and culture shaped the course of conflict.
Designed for senior history students, this field trip is weather‑dependent and works especially well when paired with a visit to Puke Ariki Museum, the Taranaki Research Centre, and/or a trip to Whare Hononga to deepen historical and cultural connections.
About Hoani:
Hoani is an experienced educator who supports ākonga in analysing the context of these historical events. He helps students make meaningful connections between past and present— unpacking how the legacies of these conflicts continue to influence people, communities, and the interpretation of history today.
Location: Offsite field trip
Schedule: All Terms (weather dependant)
Duration: Half day
Te karahipi toi ā George Mason | George Mason visual art scholarship
Do you have a student planning to study art at a tertiary level next year?
The George Mason Visual Art Scholarship supports a senior Taranaki secondary student to continue their studies in the visual arts. This may include pathways in Māori visual art, fine art, design, architecture, or Design and Visual Communication (DVC).
To be eligible, students must currently be studying a visual arts subject, ngā toi, or DVC at a Taranaki secondary school, kura kaupapa, or through Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, and must be a Taranaki resident.
This annual award of $3,300 is generously supported by the George Mason Endowment Gift, held in trust with the Taranaki Foundation.
Image: Sukena Shah, To be a Brown Woman, September 2022. Courtesy the artist.
Mātauranga Kōhungahunga |
Early Childhood Education
Our early childhood sessions offer a gentle, sensory-rich introduction to discovery and the joy of learning. Tamariki are invited to explore museum interactives, waiata, games, natural materials, multi-modal art forms, and the magic of books and storytelling. Through age-appropriate, playful experiences, children are encouraged to touch, listen, move, and notice as they begin to make sense of the world around them.
All sessions support creativity expression, confidence building, and early language development. Educators can also access ECE-friendly resource kits to use back at their own centres, while library-based group sessions for families offer relaxed, story-rich experiences that strengthen early literacy and whānau engagement.
Note:
All sessions are thoughtfully adapted to support diverse needs. Kaiako are encouraged to share their focus areas so we can tailor the experience across our three sites.
Hono ki Ngā Taonga:
Ki Tua o te Whakaaturanga |
Connect with Taonga:
Beyond the Display
Puke Ariki’s dedicated team of curators carefully manage our diverse and extensive collections, ensuring the preservation and accessibility of Taranaki’s rich heritage. While cultural protocols mean our collection stores are not open for public tours, they remain meaningful ways for your ākonga to engage directly with taonga.
We invite you to connect with us to explore:
Taonga not currently on display that may be relevant to your learning focus.
Stories and significance of taonga from different iwi across Aotearoa.
How we care for taonga using both museum best practices and tikanga Māori.
This lesson is designed for ākonga looking to explore Taranaki’s stories through engagement with taonga and their iwi significance. It also introduces how museum practice and tikanga Māori work together to protect our heritage.
