"Tēnā koutou katoa, Mihi ki te Atua Mihi ki te Mate Mihi ki te Ora, Tihei mauri ora! E ngā manuhiri, ngā tauira, kaiako, kaumātua, he mihi nui, he mihi aroha tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa."

The following is Sarah Trollē's welcome and thank you to all who assisted in any way to envisage, create, and install the wonderful pou whenua that now stand proudly at our entrance. Not only do they state that this is us and this is where we stand, but also they cement our link with the wider community. 

"A warm welcome to Everyone.

Special acknowledgements to Tangata Whenua Ngāti Kuia; and to the representatives and iwi from our local marae of Te Āwhina (Ngāti Rārua Te Āti Awa). Greetings also to Mark Bruce-Miller, our BOT chairperson and to our parents and families.

Last year I was encouraged by Sharon and Neil to apply for funding for our school for the Creatives in Schools project. This project was funded by the Ministry of Education and was intended to give students the opportunity to work alongside a professional artist to create high-quality artworks and to encourage career pathways in the arts. Our school was fortunate to be one of the first schools in NZ to receive this funding and so I approached Gordon Toi, a renowned master carver living in our community, to work alongside our tamariki. Many of you know that Gordon’s son, Tumanako, attends our school and so we were very fortunate he wanted to give back to our kura. Gordon and I collaborated on the idea of creating Pou for the school front entranceway to mark our territory and our place of significance.

I intend to keep my speech short, but I do have the important job of thanking many people who have been involved in our Creatives in Schools project from start to finish and without who’s kind generosity and support, we wouldn’t have been able to complete it.

I would like to thank the many parents in our school community who have generously given their time and supported us with materials and equipment. Kenny Rivers expertly constructed the beautiful waka sculptures in the front island and he and Allanah have been at every working bee to help us install. Thank you also to Jonny Briggs, Manu Danner for the landscaping, Deb and Darron from Māpua Landscapes for kindly providing us with bark and stones for our gardens, Sarah Taylor, Zac Deacon, Rolf Lamberg, Hamish Oldfield, Steve Stewart, Ian, Kris Monopoli and Nick Bennett for your working bee efforts and Cara Christie for providing us with morning teas.

A huge thank you to Brandon Beveridge and Mitre10 Nelson for generously donating our cement and posts to install our artworks to ensure they stand the test of time.

To our tamariki involved in the project: Reed, Ngaio, Tiffany, Sienna, Milla, Isaac, Minty, Hunta, Flora, Tumanako, Luca, Rafael, Jamie, Charlie, Sol, Gabby, Emily, Costa, Bindi, Noah, Jackson and Lila. Your artworks are stunning, creative and showcase who we are and what we cherish and value in Māpua. I am sure they will be here for a long time to come and future generations will be able to enjoy them. Thank you to Fiona and the junior team for making sure every junior child added a handprint or footprint to mark our Pou. Thank you to my colleagues for supporting this idea and motivating and inspiring the students to create drawings and designs.

Thank you to Whāea, Heidi, Rory and our school Kapa Haka group for supporting us today with waiata.

Thank you to Ronald Petley and Uncle Rossi for assisting the students with their carving at Gordon’s gallery. The students loved working with you, learning from you and still talk about the best Milos you made them for morning teas. Thank you to Yvanca for sharing Gordon, your home and gallery with us. Thank you to Lara Hania for your aroha for the kaupapa.

My final thank you is to our creative artist, Gordon Toi. Gordon, thank you for all of your mahi, your knowledge and manaakitanga with our students. They were so fortunate to have this unique opportunity and are incredibly proud of their artworks. The students and I wanted to give you a small gift to show our appreciation.

To finish, a whakatauki which reminded me that such projects only succeed when everyone works together ...

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari, he toa takitini.

Our strengths are not from us alone but from the gifts, talents and strengths of many."

Thank you, Sarah, for these meaningful words, and for all who attended the dawn blessing or opening ceremony. This work does so much in many and varied ways and we are thankful for your mahi in applying and coordinating this major effort.