Student leaders at Ormiston Junior College are affectionately called our Manutaki. Manu is the Māori kupu or word/term for Bird. Manu is also one of our school Kāinga, next to Kapua, upstairs, which opens as we continue to grow in 2020.

Birds are great navigators - always seeking out their appropriate climate and never far from land and safety. When birds take flight they often fly in formation cutting down the amount of energy each bird spends on the groups’ task. The leading bird in this type of flight formation is called the Manutaki or leading bird who places themselves at the point of the triangular formation birds fly in.

Initially the Manutaki needs to do a lot of work to get the formation going and helps 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 in front. The Manutaki will also use its call to encourage others to call, cheer, encourage and support the collective group in their pace of flight from behind - allowing others to take the lead.

It’s fitting then that our student leadership team and Kāinga leaders be named Ngā Manutaki o Te Kāinga - symbolic of the varying roles a leader must play to help the group achieve success.

Congratulations to our student leaders for 2020 who were announced at prize giving on Tuesday 10th December. Our leaders for Kapua Kāinga in 2020 are...

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 

These students have been granted the opportunity and responsibility of leading the OJC student body through service in 2020 and for that we wish them all our very best wishes!