Kia orana! Ni sa bula! Namaskaram! Mālō e lelei! Talofa lava! Faka’alofa lahi atu! Fakatalofa atu! Gude! Tēnā koutou! Warm Pacific greetings!

Last week we had our final fono for the year. Rather than having guest speakers, our own Allan Taylor, a really proactive member of our staff vaega, led talanoa about the changes coming to the Aoteaora histories curriculum. He introduced the government directive with telling his own story, but was most keen to hear aiga voice. With the groups split into aiga and ākonga, one of the things that he said that was most striking was that both parents and students came up separately with the same main ideas: a wider focus on role models and heroes, a look at the stereotyping of Pasifika people, "beauty over pain", and a big emphasis on culture. We were so pleased to also welcome Tamara Yuill Proctor, Head of Social Sciences, into the aiga fono space, supporting Allan’s talanoa. As the other half of the split, Rowan led some great talanoa about plans for Pasifika moving into 2023. It was also a privilege to be able to present Shekinah and Laine with ula lole as a token acknowledging our appreciation of their contributions to Pasifika o Te Puna Wai o Waipapa as Year 13 leaders.

This term we’ve had a few language weeks: we had students participate in a hula challenge to celebrate Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani and a flag selfie challenge for Lea Faka-Tonga, among other activities. It’s great to see the number of tutor groups as well as staff getting involved with these special occasions. A special shout out to 10FB who spelt out MALO with their bodies to win a lunch of pizzas.

We have had some inspirational guests coming through to visit Aiga, such as Tupu Aotearoa to discuss career options and further education and training available for our Pasifika ākonga, and we’re looking forward to hosting Sam Latu from Ara who will be taking our crew through Ara Trades then joining us for lunch on Friday to finish Te Gana Tuvalu (Tuvalu language week). Sam will also be sharing with us about Ara Pacific Bloom and UCMeXL (flyers attached), which are both on during the school holidays.