On Monday we held our official Mihi Whakatau to open and bless the new building spaces. Over 90 guests came to help ahwi and support us in this process. We enjoyed this experience and thank Ngati Wheki for their support and guidance to make this such a success. Thanks to all our whānau who attended. We have received many responses back telling us how much they loved the Mihi Whakatua and the positive and uplifting school culture.

Here is part of my speech that I want to share with you all... "To our parents and wider whānau, we, the staff, are truly blessed to work in a school with parents who support us and participate in the partnership we have. We look forward to being able to share this facility with you… to celebrate… have fun together AND to see the return of many events on our school grounds. There have been many challenges on the way and we appreciate everything you do to support your tamariki and our school.

Over the time of this project, we have also had many parents who have supported us with their skills and knowledge in the building industry. This has been invaluable and has made this process so much easier knowing you have our backs. Whether it was advice and guidance or generous donations of services & equipment, we have greatly appreciated it. There are too many to name individually… but you know who you are. ... and we thank you.

And to our PTA… our Parent Teacher group… we say thank you…. The past nine years, you have given of your time selflessly to provide funds for things that we could not afford… the many fundraising and friend-raising events held to make sure our tamariki have the resources to learn and grow. For those of you who don’t know, they recently donated over $75,000 to help finish this project off… we truly appreciate your energy and enthusiasm for school."