Message from the Rector

Kia ora!

We have had a busy, but interesting week to finish the term. To mark Maori Language Week, staff and students were challenged by our Te Reo teacher, Whaea Kaycee, to step out of our comfort zones and as she said ‘Give Te Reo a Go!’ And we responded and as a result staff and students had a lot of fun!

At assembly we had a few guests who profiled Maori Language Week for the community. Christian and James from Attitude, the youth education division of the Parenting Place which is an organisation dedicated to equipping teenagers with the information and the skills needed to negotiate adolescent years and to build good meaningful adult lives. They were very funny and involved the boys in a quick lesson on pronouncing Maori words familiar to the boys.

Dallas Seymour, father of Harrison, was our second guest speaker. A fluent Maori speaker in his own right, who works for Ngai Tahu and is also a well-known former All Black and Sevens player, he had a powerful message for all of us about our heritage which dates back, as he stated, prior to the arrival of Captain Cook. He brought the gold medal he was awarded at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, and shared how much he drew upon his ancestry and heritage to inspire him to achieve. He also told the boys, to dream big and they too would achieve their ‘gold medal’ in anything they chose to do.

We also launched CanTeen and members of that organisation attended, including Hirini, who has had leukaemia since the age of 12. Now aged only 20, his words made an impact on the boys too, and needless to say signup for the ‘Run for Life’ came in thick and fast as the day went on.

The five-day run is only one part of the campaign. The Concert and Home Team Day are the other components which ensure that everyone can be involved in this worthy cause of serving others less fortunate than ourselves.

Nō reira,
Tēnā katou, Tēnā koutou, Tēnā tātou katoa,
Hei te Wāhanga tuatoru.