At our prize giving held on Tuesday 10th December, we honoured students whose hard work, determination, dispositions and integrity, personal growth and development, and excellent learning outcomes in 2019 place them among our top ten percent of learners and encompass the very essence of our school values: Hauora, Relationships, Integrity, Innovation, Inspiration and Excellence.

The following learners represent and illustrate the very foundations of the learning kaupapa of our school and were acknowledged in the ceremony surrounded by the awhi and support of their fellow learners, parents, coaches and our wider school community.

The four types of awards presented were:

• Te Paraihe o Toi Te Huatahi Award For Perseverance & Determination
  
• Te Paraihe o Te Tuhi o Manawatere Award for Excellence
  
• Te Paraihe o Te Wana Hui Tāngata Hui Kāinga Award for Integrity & Disposition
  
• Te Paraihe o Mātanginui Award For Outstanding Contribution to OJC
  

We also gave special acknowledgement of our 2019 student leadership team and presented special awards presented to our sixteen appointed Kāinga leaders for the coming school year, in a special category:

• Ngā Manutaki o Te Kāinga Honour of Future Leadership

Toi Te Huatahi Award For Perseverance & Determination 2019

Toitehuatahi (Toi Te Huatahi) is an important ancestor for the Ngaitai people and our local iwi have kindly gifted OJC this name to adorn our main pathway, linking Ormiston Primary School, Ormiston Junior College and Ormiston Senior College.
Toi is one of the very earliest Maori in Aotearoa and he came from Hawaiki many generations before the fleet of canoes (they are thought to have arrived around 1350), making him one of Aotearoa’s very earliest ancestors.
Toi visited the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Because of Toi’s importance, eventually the collective islands of the Hauraki Gulf would be named in his honour, including important islands to all Aucklanders such as Rangitoto and Motutapu.
Nga poito o te Kupenga o Toi Te Huatahi means ‘the fishing net of Toi Te Huatahi’. Toi’s determination and perseverance convinces us all that he is the perfect name sake for this award.

Recipients: These students have consistently enhanced their success through grit and determination. They have a stellar work ethic and self manage well; persevering in the face of adversity.

• Heleyna Tutagalevao
• Emily Ly
• Mouctika Chayanam
• Tanya Davidse
• Lynna Nguyen
• Henry Hun
• Lola Qing
• Taylor Aiono
• Amy-Lee Reeves
• Sharon Lu
• Nailah Ali
• Caleb Tran
• Blaine Windley
• Jessica Sneddon
• Kheona Taractac
• Marcus Pakii-William
• Ryley Yates

Te Tuhi o Manawatere Award for Excellence 2019

On the foreshore to the east of Howick grows a large pōhutukawa tree known by the Ngāi Tai people as “Te Tuhi a Manawatere” – the mark of Manawatere.
It is said that this ancestor came from Hawaiki. Tradition states that he did not come by canoe, but that he glided on the ripples of the waves on the back of a taniwha. He came by way of Thames and Maraetai and then to what is now known as Cockle Bay.
There he landed by the large pōhutukawa tree and made his tuhi (mark) thereupon using a red ochre substance known to the Māori as karamea. The mark he made was a sign to those following that he had come that way. Hence the proverb in respect to things or persons being lost and being searched for by Ngāi Tai: “Ma te tuhi rapa a Manawatere ka kitea” (by the vivid mark of Manawatere it will be found).
The pōhutukawa on this spot maintains the rich red ochre when in flower. Manawatere is of huge significance to Ngāi Tai and we are honoured that his name has been gifted to us to name our wonderful auditorium. For us Manawatere is synonymous with Excellence.

Recipients: These students have demonstrated high quality learning outcomes across the school, striving for success. These students use multiple lenses in their learning and foster valuable learning relationships with others.

• Preyesi Arora
• Daleana Hann
• Ved Shah
• Harleen Singh
• Mervlyn Prakash
• Fiona Bui
• Avi Arora
• Jenny Hung
• Christopher Liang
• Mackenzie Cross
• Mohammed Khan
• Sean Yang
• Eric Ly
• Mouctika Chayanam
• Katherine Han
• Henry Hun
• Emily Ly
• Joseph Windley
• Shrejal Ram
• Jershon Tutagalevao
• Andrei Deo

Te Wana Hui Tāngata Hui Kāinga Award for Integrity & Disposition 2019

Te Wana is the first chieftan to unite the Ngāi Tai tribe, and we are incredibly privileged for our local iwi to have gifted us the use of his name. He came several generations after our other two important Ngāi Tai leaders Toi & Manawatere. Te Wana’s full title is either Te Wana Hui Kāinga or Te Wana Hui Tāngata, because he united the hapu and whakapapa across our part of Auckland (Tamaki Makaurau).
He is therefore Te Wana, The Gatherer of Villages, and the Gatherer of People. Te Wana took in the coastal lands from the Tamaki River, eastwards via modern day Howick, to Whitford, Maraetai, Te Wairoa River, and on to Kawakawa Bay and Orere Point; then extended inland via Hunua Ranges to Te Paepaetahi (an old boundary line running from Papakura to Otara), with the whole area becoming known as Te Whenua o Te Wana (‘The Land Of Te Wana’).
Te Wana created a broader Ngāi Tai consciousness, uniting many related hāpū together in such a way that gave them dominion over lands and sea across a wide geographical area. As a gatherer of the people he is a fitting inspiration for our Integrity & Disposition Awards that recognise learners who embody the philosophy of OJC.

Recipients: These students have demonstrated emerging leadership skills, honesty and make contributions to the values and philosophies of OJC. These students support collegiality and consensus with others.

• Azure Walker
• Danielle Saunders
• Ved Shah
• Harleen Singh
• Kevin Su
• Cinyee Poot
• Kane Nguyen
• Christopher Liang
• Sean Yang
• Eric Ly
• Madison Shaw
• Oli Carter
• Angelena Tuipolotu
• Ayushi Singh
• Anas Mansour
• Kalush Chand
• Jona Joel
• Shubhreet Kaur

At the end of each year it is appropriate that plans for the following year are put in place. However, first, it is vital that we pause to applaud the outstanding leadership and pathway paved for our future leaders by the Kāinga and wider student leaders of 2019 in the following awards:

Ngā Manutaki o Te Kura | For leading and serving the school and student body as a Student Leader in 2019

• Caitlin Purves
• Kane Nguyen
• Alaia Zanif
• Karleil Hewett
• Rahi Singh
• Margaret Franklin
• Varshi Chand
• Shreya Narayan
• Khushi Rayat
• Shrejal Ram
• Daemon Irvine-Mea
• Nathan Yong

Ngā Manutaki o Kāinga Aumoana 2019

• Aditya Singh
• Mervlyn Prakash

Ngā Manutaki o Kāinga Tohorā 2019

• Andy Tran
• Anushka Ram

Ngā Manutaki o Kāinga Kapua 2019

• Pranjal Chand
• Niklesh Naidu

Ngā Manutaki o Te Kāinga Honour of Future Leadership for 2020

Manu is the Māori term for Bird. Manu is also one of our school Kainga, next to Kapua, upstairs, which has yet to open as we continue to grow over the coming years. When birds take flight they often fly in formation cutting down the amount of energy each bird spends on the group task. The leading bird in this type of flight formation is called the Manutaki or leading bird who places themself at the point of the triangular formation.
Initially the Manutaki needs to do a lot of work to get the formation going and to send them toward their destination. But sometimes, as the leader, the Manutaki will also drop back to the side or back of the group and let others take their place at the front. The Manutaki will also use its call and encourage others to call, cheer and support the collective group in their pace of flight from behind. When required, they allow others to take the lead.
It’s fitting then that our student leadership team, be named Ngā Manutaki to te Kura and our Kāinga leaders, Ngā Manutaki o Te Kāinga - symbolic of the varying roles a leader must play to help the group achieve success.

Recipients: These students have been granted the opportunity and responsibility of leading the OJC student body through service in 2020

Leadership Team:

Ngā Manutaki o te Kāinga Aumoana:

• Maddison Shaw 
• Avi Arora 
• Shivi Shankar
• Zavier Lichtwark 

Ngā Manutaki o te Kāinga Tohorā:

• Katherine Han 
• Keegan Botting 
• Shubreet Kaur 
• Jonathan Swanepoel 

Ngā Manutaki o te Kāinga Kapua:

• Aleena Dean 
• Kalush Chand 
• Judy Chheang 
• Ved Shah 

Ngā Manutaki o te Kāinga Manu:

• Matilda Sok 
• Ricky Chen 
• Ayushi Singh
• Henry Liu 

Mātanginui Award For Outstanding Contribution to OJC 2019

Ko Mātanginui te maunga | Mātanginui is our mountain.
In terms of navigation it is our central landmark that can be seen from all directions and helped our ancestors as well as people in the modern day with our bearings.It is therefore our beacon as a school. It embodies strength, unity and helps show the way. In Māori culture mountains are central to Mihimihi – they represent a person’s relationship to Papatuanuku, the earth. We could not think of a more fitting symbol for our Best Allrounder Awards. 

Recipients: These students were nominated and subsequently awarded across all of the previous categories, meaning they each demonstrate determination, perseverance, excellence, leadership and embody the very essence of our OJC philosophy. They each received all three previous award plaques: Te Paraihe o Toi Te Huatahi Award For Perseverance & Determination; Te Paraihe o Te Tuhi o Manawatere Award for Excellence; Te Paraihe o Te Wana Hui Tāngata Hui Kāinga Award for Integrity & Disposition; as well as our ultimate award: Te Paraihe o Mātanginui Award For Outstanding Contribution to OJC...

• Pranjal Chand
• Anushka Ram
• Harry Chhay
• Shirlena Rauwhero
• Justin Villaflores
• Angelina Pham
• Andy Tran
• Ezat Mirzayi
• Ricky Chen
• Ayush Singh