Miss P, Mr Reed, Miss Booth and Mr Brown (Mrs McLeod) welcomed the new Year 7 and 8s!

Taiheke, formerly Pātere, is the building that we are in for next year. The meaning of Taiheke is 'out pouring;' leaving te Kura o Ōwaka with pride and venturing into the community as contributing members of society. 

The main focus of these three days was to get to know and to start making connections with each other. This was done in a variety of ways - 2 truths and a lie, 'I have never' game, find someone who has two things in common, people bingo and co-operative games, working as a big group and splitting into kaitiaki (guardian) groups.

A 'pepeha' a form of introduction that establishes identity and heritage. We watched this video to get a good understanding of what a 'pepeha' is.

The students worked on making a visual pepeha. They included a maunga (mountain), awa (river), waka (transport), whānau (family) and ingoa (name). A lot of discussion and connections were made with all the students. 

Reflection time at the end of the day has allowed the students to think about what has gone on and how they have felt. These are the words they have used - informative, exciting, chaos, challenging, enjoyable, interesting, different, intriguing, roller-coaster, achievement, progress, focussed, over-coming, social and awesome.

We finished the Transition Days with a celebration of the many cultures we have at te Kura o Ōwaka.