Our Leavers' Assembly is always an emotional time for teachers and students alike.

The day started off with a variety of last goodbyes and farewell memories from the Year 13s to the teaching staff, as the 2020 cohort wanted to be remembered for their well planned departing antics. The students then decided they would organise and coordinate their farewell in Hiwa i te rangi, and they laid the carpet, which they had to return to multiple times to relay correctly, once the directions were found. The Sound Recording students and Senior Music students set about setting up, while Matua tied the projector screen to the Exit doors, as the Kamar Y9 to Y13 transformation pictures are a highlight of the assembly. 

This year the Haka Pōwhiri guard of honour was twice the size, as teachers and students combined to bring the Year 13s in for the last time. Mr Liddell opened the proceedings and the school celebrated the Year 13s with speeches from Lollie Stallard and DJ MacDonald, and a performance from the Year 13 Music class. The transformation photo presentation was consistently greeted with raucous laughter, exclamations and applause and Mr Kearney ensured his final words of wisdom were intimate, for the Year 13s only, and the rest of the school had to strain to hear his advice. Once he had finished speaking, a Haka erupted from the crowd and the Year 13s were surrounded by students and teachers showing their manaakitanga, showing their aroha. The Year 13s replied with a Haka of their own and Hiwa i te rangi resounded. The teachers created a guard of honour for the Year 13s march past, and students walked out of their kura for the last time. The teachers came out of the guard one at a time to pass over a Kaiapoi High School taonga and give their students well wishes, and a final hug to set them on the path of their next journey. Thirteen years of schooling, finally completed. Well done!