Last Friday, we celebrated our first Michaelmas Festival in two years.

It was a wonderful day, full of colour, challenge, risk, laughter, wet sponges, gold, songs, teamwork, good food and courage! 

The day started with an assembly in the Eurythmy Room. The kaiako had taken the time before school began to decorate the room. When the tamariki entered, gasps of delight could be heard. Our assembly was a mix of the sublime (where the tamariki sang beautifully and Claire told us a Michaelmas story) and the ridiculous (building team spirit through raucous noise and laughter!)

After morning tea, the classes gathered on the court in their colour groups and then the festival was in full swing! Groups of tamariki could be seen moving around the school in brightly coloured circles, whilst Class 9 leprechauns lurked nearby. The Class 7 tamariki did a magnificent job of being kind and responsible leaders of their teams. At the sound of the gong, groups quickly gathered with their flag before the cheeky leprechauns could snatch it from them and then made their way to the next game. 

After three games, it was time for some kai. A tremendous thank you to all of you who provided the butter, buns and soup. It was all utterly delicious! The tamariki, kaiako and games masters were very grateful for their nutritious lunch. Thank you also to those of you who came to set up, serve and clean up the kai. It was a huge job! A special mention to Ai and Alice T who were the last to leave. Thank you so much!

With full bellies, the tamariki were off for six more games. Thank you so much to the games masters for your time and effort in setting up, running and packing up the games. Thank you also to Geoff and Class 7 for setting up and organising all of the games.

At the final bell, all of the teams gathered back on the court to close our Michaelmas Festival. The kaiako then rounded off the day in their classrooms with their tired, rather damp, but very happy classes!

Thank you once to more the providers of our kai, those who served and cleaned up, games masters, and to Adibah for the lovely photos.

Tanya

(On behalf of the Festival Group)

P.S. Thank you also for supporting the dressing up part of our Festival. I heard that Pete's Emporium did quite well!