wharekura
1. (noun) house of learning - traditional place where tohunga taught esoteric knowledge to selected men.
Wharekura: Ko te whare kōrero i te wānanga, i ngā kōrero tūpuna (M 2006:272). / House of learning: The house where knowledge of esoteric lore was taught and also ancestral lore (M 2006:273).
2. (noun) school, school house.
Ko tēnei wharekura nā te Hāhi i utu ngā mea katoa (TP 11/1900:5). / For this school the Church paid for everything.
3. (noun) secondary school run on kaupapa Māori principles - these schools use Māori language as the medium of instruction and incorporate Māori customary practices into the way they operate.
E haere ana āna mokopuna ki te wharekura o Rākaumangamanga kia mōhio ai rātou ki te kōrero Māori. / Her grandchildren are attending the Rākaumangamanga wharekura so that they know how to speak Māori.
Hāwea, Wiha Mohi Penetito
1. (personal name) (?-2009) Ngāti Awa. A fluent speaker, translator and promoter of Māori language, Wiha was a teacher for 15 years at pioneering Huntly immersion school Te Wharekura o Rākaumangamanga. She was a contributor to the Māori language dictionary, He Pātaka Kupu and a lead translator on the Māori Google project. More recently she was a language coach on Vincent Ward's film Rain of the Children, which was co-produced by her husband Tainui Stephens. Also known as Wiha Te Raki Hāwea.
