Logo Background Information

Te Huarahi Ako Kia Ora Toonu - Learning Pathway for Life – Logo

In developing the logo for the community of learning it was important to think about who we are as a group and what we stand for. For me that meant a coming together of many elements to grow our aakonga.

As CoL’s have to show a pathway that leads lead to a high school or in our case schools (Wesley and Pukekohe) it was important to have an image that shows this coming together. 

As a CoL we are predominantly situated in Pukekohe so I chose to use the Kohe Kohe tree as a starting point. My research talks of Maaori having used the Kohe Kohe as a tonic and this I felt added to the choice of using this as our key image. The unfurling part of the logo is therefore a stylized representation of the Kohe Kohe (which is above the line).

As with any plant there needs to be a strong root system to draw in nutrients in and help it to grow. The stylized roots in the logo below the unfurling Kohe Kohe represent all of the schools / agencies / whaanau that are working together to feed the Kohe Kohe (aakonga). 

The earth is simply represented by the line and the space below which the root system sits in. This is the place of the CoL to bring together everyone to help to grow our collective aakonga.

Ka Hikitia, (2008, p.20) describes the concept of Ako as a teaching and learning relationship, where the educator is also learning from the student. So with this in mind I asked William McIntosh one of our very talented senior aakonga to take my concept and digitize it. I would like to acknowledge his skill as an artist and having transitioned through Pukekohe Intermediate it is apt that he was able to use the skills he has acquired at Pukekohe High School to complete the task I asked of him.