Our first school group of international students since pre-Covid touched down in Christchurch on Wednesday!!!! We are very excited to welcome a group of senior students from Municipal Omiya International School (MOIS) to Ellesmere College - Te Kāreti o Waihora. MOIS is a brand new school in Tokyo having opened its doors in 2019. This group is part of a bigger group of 160 students from the school who are spread out across 6 schools in Canterbury. Following this Year 11 group there will be a group of junior students from MOIS who will be spending time at our kura. We have a strong relationship with MOIS with Mr. Bass and Zodie Bonnett, Director of International Students, visiting the school on multiple occasions. Yesterday morning, we officially welcomed our visiting group of students from Municipal Omiya International School with a mihi whakatau. The students were gifted a school scarf to help them cope with the cold weather, having left Tokyo on Tuesday evening and 32⁰ weather! The students enjoyed today's Happy Clothes Day and were in classes for most of the day with their buddies.

Next year, a Senior Japanese Trip will take place and our students will stay at MOIS' brand new traditional hostel. We are very excited to be able to welcome international school groups back and know that our students and community will manaaki these visitors!