Last week we kicked off Matariki at Stanley Bay with a week of activities and learning.

On Monday we held a small assembly to introduce the week to students and the kapa haka group showed off their performance from the Bayswater Festival.
On Tuesday the whole school gathered into whānau groups along with some parent helpers and participated in two Matariki or Maori themed activities for the morning. The children enjoyed making beautiful painted Matariki rocks, learning rakau sticks games, paper craft and weaving. On Tuesday evening we held a lantern making workshop with support from Lance Cablk from Restoring Takarunga Hauraki and Natanahira from Lake House Arts. We had great whānau participation and constructed some beautiful lanterns made out of bamboo and paper covered with designs from Natanahiras beautiful carved panels. The lanterns were taken by whānau up Takarunga on the hikoi on Saturday night. What an awesome community event!Classes also enjoyed spending time with their buddy classes for some tuakana-teina which refers to the relationship and support given between younger and older children. Room 1, 2 and 7 made some very tricky traditional kites out of bamboo and flax, mīharo!

Bayswater Matariki Festival - Kapa Haka Performance

On Saturday the 18th of June Bayswater School held their annual Matariki Festival which was a huge success despite the wet weather! Our Stanley Bay kapa haka group performed in the evening along with many other schools from the peninsula. We are very proud of how hard they have worked over the last weeks to learn the actions and words to the waiata performed. It was also very special to get to perform in our new kakahu that were updated by Matua Gary's wife in Taranaki, the addition of the feathers looked wonderful! A big thank you to Mr Offner for supporting the group each week and playing the guitar.

Matariki is still happening! We hope that you embrace this time to reflect and look forward to the year ahead with your friends and whānau. This website has some great information and ideas you might like to use with your family over the coming weeks.