Last week, eight rangitahi from our kura participated in a three day wānanga with Hawaiki Kura at Omaka Marae.

Throughout the three day journey, we immersed ourselves in mātauranga māori making a deeper connection with our culture. The focus was on te reo Māori, the art of mau rākau, and Māori wellbeing models.

The wānanga was celebrated with a presentation to whānau of our learning, sharing our dreams for Te Ao Māori and our goals for our te reo journeys and of course kai to finish off the celebrations.

We are hugely proud of everyone who participated in this three day journey.

Here are some of our ākonga highlights…

“Haka Fusion was a stand out for me because it is different each time and we got to incorporate our culture with modern dance. It is like learning two different things at once. I definitely built more confidence over the three days and made some new friends. I set a reo plan to be fluent by the time I finish College and I have a goal to get more sharp with my patu.

My dream is for Te Ao Māori to make it one of the most spoken languages in Aotearoa and for it to be a must have language. It would be cool to walk through town and just hear it all around.”

Mereana Johnson

“A stand out for me was learning Haka Fusion, I love dancing and it was cool that it was a twist of māori culture with salsa and hip hop. I was pushed out of my comfort zone over the three days and I also got to know lots of people better and made some deep connections. It was empowering learning a new haka.

My dream for Te Ao Māōri was for all teachers to learn it and for it to be normal around the school and not just in the te reo classes.

My reo goal I set was to be at the independent level of speaking te reo and more confident in what I am saying by the end of Year 11.

I would really recommend other students to take up future opportunities to do a Hawaiki Kura wānanga. You won’t regret it!”

Jaye Waipo

“The goal for the wānanga was to empower rangitahi to be more confident as a rangatahi māori in Te Ao Māori. A big focus for this one was the reo plan and making short and long term goals.

A highlight was seeing the development from day 1 to day 3, the amount of stuff they had learnt blew me away. Another highlight was seeing the Years 10 and 11s step up into the leadership roles.” 

Māreikura Nepia - Tutor for the wānanga