On November 30 we celebrated our Māori students achievements and farewelled our Year 13 leavers.

The evening started with Kōka Tania Gilchrist and the Kapa Haka rōpū welcoming the Year 13 leavers into the (standing-room-only) staff room with a powerful haka pōwhiri. After the whaikōrero, waiata tautoko and introductions from our lead Māori Tuakana, Gabrielle Hampton and Tumuaki Scott Haines we shared the delicious Kai prepared in-house by our Hospitality team. 

Then it was onto the awards. There were five different categories that our ākonga could obtain: Achievement in Sport, Achievement in Arts and Culture, Academic Achievement, Leadership and Consistent Effort. Congratulations to all those that received awards. Gabrielle Hampton was also awarded the Te Taonga Roopu-Reipa Prize for Tikanga. 

The junior and senior awards were split up by a kōrero from Julia Keogh-Cope, an ex Burnside student, speaking about Success as Māori. It was inspiring to hear about her post school journey.

Our Tuakana for 2024 were introduced with Gabrielle handing on the lead tuakana pounamu to Dustin Marshall and Dustin giving Gabrielle flowers to acknowledge her job as lead tuakana for 2023.  

The evening ended with the main poroporoaki event, the farewell to our Yr 13's. Mr Alan Robertson read a short bio, including future plans, for each of our leavers who were handed a pounamu from our tumuaki Mr Scott Haines.

It was a lovely evening of celebration and whanaungatanga.