As part of the learning in Year 9 Te Reo Māori classes, Ms Andrew and I had the pleasure of taking a group of students to the Araiteuru Marae in Shetland St on 21 November.

We had a wonderful visit which began with a Pōwhiri/Welcome ceremony inside the meeting house. We were very fortunate to have Kerry Van der Laan accompanying us as our speaker for this ceremony. Kerry has supported a number of Columba marae visits over the years so we were grateful to have him helping us again on this occasion. As part of the welcome ceremony our students sang a waiata that we had been learning in class, and they did a beautiful job.

The day was led by our hosts Rauhina Scott-Fyfe and Dougie Ditford, who put us all at ease with their informative and relaxed approach.

As part of our learning we all shared our Mihimihi/personal introduction with the group.

Our students also had the opportunity to learn from Whaea Amber Bridgeman about how traditional clothing was made from harakeke/flax. The muka fibres are removed from the harakeke with the aid of a mussel shell. Our students all had a go at doing this themselves and they made a small rope to take home. Whaea Amber has been working with the Year 8’s at school this year as our Artist in Residence so it was wonderful for this Year 9 group to have the opportunity to learn from her too.

Other activities included stories with Matua Dougie and learning about the Pōwhiri process/Welcome ceremony from Whaea Kiri.

At the end of the day we had an opportunity to thank our hosts during the poroporoaki/farewell. Our students had a wonderful time and represented Columba very well.

Thank you/Ngā mihi,