The combined Kapa Haka rōpu Te Hononga Wairua, which unites students from Riccarton High School and St Thomas' of Canterbury, competed at Tūhono Kapa Haka Senior Festival on Saturday 23 October.

After three postponements due to Covid alert levels, our rangatahi (young people) remained committed to honing their skills and were finally able to stand proudly on stage at Tūhono.

Te Hononga Wairua won first place in the whakataetae (competition), and were also awarded with:

- the trophy for best waiata tira (choral song)

- the trophy for best haka

- the strongest Kaitaki Tane (Korotūroa Roberts led the rōpu with incredible mana)

- the best uniform

- the best youth guitarist

Ella Robinson (Kaitaki wahine) and Korotūroa Roberts (Kaitaki tane) led the rōpū with mana, Ella-Ruby Gibson was our stunning soloist, and Burak Bayram was our wonderful student guitarist.

Nei rā te whakamihi to our incredible tutor Christina Daly, who led our campaign and brought out the best in our rangatahi. Me mihi, ka tika.

Kei te tino puho kererū mātou kia rātou. We are incredibly proud of them.