The Aotearoa Steel Festival was held in Auckland in February. Katikati College took both its senior bands Pan Pana and PANiK to the event.

For all but three participants this was their first chance to connect and play alongside performers from throughout New Zealand and Australia. The weekend started on the Friday with an afternoon practice at Wesley Intermediate followed by a mass band rehearsal playing live for TV3. Saturday saw an early start, then travel to Silo Park in downtown Auckland. Over the next 8 hours students played in a mass band for the audience. They also played their own music sets and listened to others. Available at the venue were amazing spicy Caribbean foods and percussion music from Africa and around the world. The day's events finished with a costume parade before students returned back to base to get changed for the Caribbean party that night. On Sunday we were us back at Wesley Intermediate for three hours of workshops with different tutors. This was an amazing event for all fifteen students and five adults who attended. A special thank you to Mrs Angela Moore, Mr John Fleming and Mrs Erica Evans for all their help.