This auto-ethnography examines how I, as the principal in an English-medium state secondary school in Aotearoa/New Zealand, hence forth referred to as Aotearoa, collaborated to transform the school culture, leading to improved outcomes for indigenous Māori students. By examining the transcripts of interviews between myself and external researchers, the key strategies and behaviours of decolonising and transformative leadership that led the transformation of a school culture and system, begin to be revealed. Imperative in addressing the long-term underachievement of Māori students as a result of colonisation is a framework for educational leaders to both challenge and transform a system, created through colonisation, that continues to underserve Māori students and whānau . The findings provide examples and tested guidelines for leaders to work within transformative spaces, created through a decolonising leadership framework. It provides a model of effective leadership utilising deliberate acts of decolonisation alongside partnerships of mana ōrite to transform negative systems and behaviours perpetuated by colonisation.