Kia ora tātou,

Poipoia te kākano kia puawai. Nurture the seed and it will blossom.

On Saturday Amesbury School hosted the 2022 St Brigid’s Kapa Haka Festival at Onslow College. It was a big undertaking, and an absolutely fabulous event. Over 700 tamariki and rangatahi performing; a number of kaiako and tutors supporting; huge numbers of whānau coming to help, prepare, and be part of the event. All up, several thousand people were involved, all there to celebrate and treasure kapa haka. The performances were amazing, with a wide variety of haka, waiata-a-ringa (action songs), waiata and poi.

The thing that stood out to me the most throughout the day was the connection I saw happening everywhere. All through the festival I saw people embrace each other, catch up, reminisce and re-connect. It was a buzzy, noisy affair, and something truly to be treasured after three years of careful distancing. Lots of laughter, hugging and enthusiastic conversations. All centred around a shared love of, and support for, kapa haka. As the whakatauki above states - nurture the seed and it will blossom. We hope that so many young people building a love and appreciation for kapa haka will help us continue to grow and develop as a bicultural nation.

There are so many thank yous to be said for the organising of the festival this year. Bringing together several thousand people, and organising and feeding them, does not happen easily. It happens through a large team of people all willing to do their part. The whānau who baked an incredible range of fabulous treats. The parents and grandparents who turned up to help children get ready for their performance. The people who sewed yet more amazing uniforms. The whānau and staff who manned food stalls, cooked sausages, made dumplings, curry and empanadas. To you all - thank you, thank you, thank you.

Several people need their own mention, however. To Papa Jack and Whaea Nina, our wonderful kapa haka tutors, thank you both so much. You are truly treasured by us and we thank you for all of your hard work, support and wisdom. To Matua Tim, who has also supported our kapa haka group, and has spoken on behalf of the school at several pōwhiri, we really appreciate your ongoing support of our school and of our kapa haka group. To Matua Connor and Whaea Nina from Onslow School, we appreciate your support and hard work during all of the organisation. And finally, to our fabulous Amaria, who was the overall organiser of the amazing event. Amaria, your dedication, motivation and passion for this event has driven all of the action over the past few months. Huge, huge thanks to you.

And let’s not forget the biggest stars of all - ngā tamariki. Our children were absolutely fabulous, from our youngest performers right through to our older kaea who led the performance through both their actions and their behaviour. Ka mau te wehi - awesome job! We hope you are very proud of yourselves - we were certainly super proud on Saturday.

This feels like a great way to end the term. We have one final week to go, and a busy one at that. Our senior athletics day is on Tuesday, our student conferences are on Wednesday and Thursday evening (don’t forget to sign up!), and our Amesbury Awesomeness awards will be presented on Friday afternoon, along with a second chance to see some of the Kapa Haka Festival performance from our fabulous group. Have a wonderful long weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham