The Waharoa ready for blessing and unveiling by St Paul's Collegiate School

Blessing of the Waharoa

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There has been a long-standing tradition at St Paul's that each year, the Year 13 cohort donate a gift to the school in recognition of their time here and then this acts as a touchpoint later in life when they return or visit the school as a Collegian.

The 2020 Year 13 leavers chose to gift a ‘Waharoa’ - a gateway or entrance to a specific site. The carving depicts the values of the 2020 Year 13 students. These values are:

  • Persistence: Continuing through the face of adversity

  • Knowledge: A journey each student gains through their personal time at St Paul’s

  • Unity and community: A large part of Te Reo Maaori, and also St Paul’s

  • Compassion: As a Year 13 group, compassion has been the main focus of a difficult year

  • Resilience: Represents the school, getting back up when knocked down, carrying on throughout a pandemic

This completed carving now stands at the entranceway of the quad. Next Thursday morning we will unveil and bless it.

We have invited parents and students of last year’s cohort who donated towards the leavers gift, to attend the blessing and unveiling. While it is unlikely the students will attend as many of them are studying at universities scattered around the country, we have invited them to join us to watch the blessing and unveiling online as we live-stream it.

The unveiling will take place in front of the Waharoa, outside the Headmaster’s office, at the entrance to the quad.

As staff, please know you too are welcome to attend this special occasion or you can watch the live stream on our Facebook page from here.

Blessing and unveiling of Waharoa: Thursday 10 June - 7:30am