NEW ZEALAND (ANS) -- Two British 'Cockney' accents can be heard 'down under' learning the Maori language at the Nga Kakano Christian Bilingual School.

LANGUAGE LEARNERS: From left: Kai, Charles and Tia Graty are all learning more about the native people of their new homeland. (Photo: JUSTIN LATIF, Western Leader, New Zealand).

According to Justin Latif, writing for the Western Leader newspaper in New Zealand, Henderson Heights residents Kai Graty, 7, and his sister Tia, 9, emigrated from London four years ago with their parents Gwendolyn and Charles.

Latif's article says the older Graty's decided to send their children to the bilingual, mainly Maori school.

Charles is of British and Swiss descent and was born in Africa. He wants his children to have the same multi-cultural exposure he did growing up.

"I’m quite open to other cultures," he says. "We have found that in New Zealand there can be quite a separation between Maori and European.

"But we didn’t see why it needed to be like that for our children as long as their educational needs were being met. And so they have that privilege of being exposed to the Maori culture."

Charles says the siblings have flourished in their new learning environment. "It’s got a real community focus and they seem to be doing well," he says.

Kai says he’s made lots of friends at his new school. "It’s way different to our old school because we get to talk in Maori," he says.

Meanwhile, Charles has also delved into Maori culture.

"I did a tee reo Maori course at the Te Wanaga o Aotearoa when I first came here," the 49-year-old says. "It was quite a steep learning curve but a really good experience. It also got me researching my own ancestry and thinking about what makes up my culture.

"In England we’ve lost our identity. I think that’s why people there go so mad on the football -- because it gives them an identity of sorts."

Charles still wants his children to be proud of their own heritage.

"They need to know their own culture and they are Londoners really. We just like them to be exposed to a multicultural environment,"he siad.

Friend Adrian Hawkes, a fellow Londoner, said: "Charles and his wife led the Rainbow Church here in North London for a while, and then we sent them to establish the same ethos church to New Zealand."

The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End. Linguistically, it refers to the form of English spoken by this group.

The term was used to describe those born within earshot of the Bow Bells of the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow in 1600, when Samuel Rowlands, in his satire 'The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine', referred to 'a Bowe-bell Cockney.'

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