Te Rangapū Reta at Kaiapoi Pā

This is a year-long letter writing programme between all Year 10 ākonga, two Year 9 classes at Kaiapoi High School, and a number of primary school tamariki in our Kāhui Ako (our Community of Learning). Kaiako and Year 10 ākonga worked together to match interests with primary school tamariki and wrote back and forth at set times throughout the year. Tuahiwi, Kaiapoi Borough, Woodend, Ouruhia, and Pegasus were the local primary schools that participated in this programme.

While writing the letters to the tamariki, we would hide our identities, but korero about our hobbies, stories, and lifestyles. The letters gave us a chance to build a relationship with people we might not otherwise have met. The culmination of the project was a visit to Kaiapoi Pā. Here, we planned to finally meet our pen-pals and receive letters from our teina. 

9B and 9Y were the first group to visit Kaiapoi Pā on 15th November, followed in the afternoon by 10V and 10C. We were meant to meet our pen-pals at the Kaiapoi Pā, but due to the Covid situation, we were unable to. However, we were still fortunate enough to visit the Pā and learn about its history, listening to the korero of the lovely Whaea Danna. On our trip, we were also visited by Aotearoa's majestic native bird of prey, the Kahu. This was fitting as the Kahu is known for being a messenger, as well as being smart, discerning, and cheeky like our class. The Kahu brought with him the wairua of tīpuna of the Kaiapoi Pā. 

On 18th November, 10A and 10Q had a fun, interesting learning experience at Kaiapoi Pā. While learning about the history of the Ngai Tahu tribe and the Kaiapoi Pā, we were fortunate enough to meet our wonderful pen-pals from Woodend. During this experience, we gained knowledge about the history of the Kaiapoi Pā, while getting to exchange stories and backgrounds with our new friends. We were lucky enough to have Mathias Pītama come to korero about the history of the Kaiapoi Pā, and we are very thankful for his tautoko. It was really cool to see many of the high school students, as well as the younger peers from Woodend, taking part in the long-awaited meeting. 10T and 10K met their pen-pals from Tuahiwi in the afternoon.

The final group to go were 10H and 10L, who got to meet their pen-pals from Ouruhia on 19th November. We learnt about each of the gateways and what they were used for. When we introduced ourselves to our pen-pals, we shared our hobbies and things we have in common. It was a really fun experience meeting our pen-pals and getting to talk to them after writing to them over the year.

We enjoyed sending and receiving letters from our teina. Learning about Kaiapoi Pā and the important history it has in our community and getting to visit the pā was a new experience for some of us; some of us hadn’t even heard about the Kaiapoi Pā. This programme was extremely fun to participate in. We are looking forward to writing one final letter and Mrs Keir and Ms McBeth returning these for our tenia to keep.

Kiriama Cooke (10Q), Lucy Lucas, Aliyah Newton, Elly Ngo (10V) and Kaylee Thompson (10A)