Kia ora, Ni hao, Dobar dan, Malo e lelei, Hola, Konnichiwa, Talofa, Namaste, Chão, Vannakkam, Kamusta, Ayubowan, Hello!
Term 2 has been a full term for our Kāhui Ako and the amazing Across School Leaders. The whakatauki above epitomises what they have endeavoured to achieve this term. A myriad of opportunities have been provided for our teachers and students. From the very beautiful, well-attended Pasifika Mass, to all of the cultural speeches and art competitions; to ongoing work around Literacy, the NCEA pilots and the Aōtearoa NZ Histories Curriculum.
The challenges of collective bargaining and disruptions to schooling have been ongoing and we, as leaders, have as usual, navigated with grace and perseverance.
Next term will bring its own challenges and as a Catholic community, we will continue to support one another in times of need, keep connected and continue to fulfil our Catholic mission for all our learners and communities.
Have a well-deserved break, take time for yourselves as we prepare for term 3. We wish all those travelling to Samoa as part of the Samoa Victims Support Group a very safe and meaningful experience. Tafiafi mala lou malaga!
Nga manaakitanga katoa a te Atua
All God's Blessings
Carolynn Phillips and Michael Mullin
Discursive Practices
What has been happening in our Schools?
Inaugural Pasifika Mass
Around 500 people gathered in St Joseph’s Church, Grey Lynn on the evening of Thursday 8th June to worship altogether. This special mass was officiated by Father Iosefo Timu MF and led by our beautifully and wonderfully made students. We were serenaded by the talented singers and in particular the ‘Confortare Per Mariam’ made up of students from St Paul's And Marist Colleges, whose rearrangement of the hymn, ‘Fa’afetai i le Atua’ was spine-tingling. Thank you to all those who supported, participated, and attended.
Some feedback of the mass …
‘The Kahui Ako is very strong! A great example to set for the other regions. We enjoyed the mass and loved the involvement of our young people.’ Fa’ausugafa Cliff Fua Leaututu (Ministry of Education, Senior Advisor)
‘It was a beautiful celebration.’
‘It was all perfect! Loved everything about it’.
‘ … a true celebration of all our Pacific cultures in the context of the celebration of the Eucharist’.
‘Faáfetai lava ma malo lava le galue! Everything was beautiful, Mass, singing, day, cards, ushers and even the tea afterwards.’
‘I really liked the way it was so student led and centred all around our students. Every school was involved and had special roles and included. It was by Pasifika for Pasifika which was evident in the service content and also the little details added.’
‘Great variety of Pasifika languages and the spread of different age groups doing the prayers of the faithful. Warm & welcoming feeling’.
‘Great to see the diverse cultures and families represented.’
Waiho I te toipoto, kaua I te toirua!
Let us keep close together, not far apart.
Mrs Makerita Tagomoa-Papali’I (ACCKA Across School Leader).
Samoan Speech and Art Competitions
SPEECH COMPETITION
Thank you very much to all the students that participated in our very first kāhui ako Samoan Speech competition. Each student was acknowledged for their effort with a small prize pack dropped off at their school.
Judge: Fa’ausugafa Cliff Fua Leaututu
i o’u alofa, Talofa, Talofa Lava. O lo’u igoa o Fa’ausugafa. O le nu’u o lo’u tinā o Musumusu i Fagaloa. A o lo’u tamā o Tauo’o i Faleasi’u. I work for the Ministry of Education as a Senior Education Adviser – Youth Court Education Officer, here in Tāmaki Herenga Waka (South, South West). It has been a privilege to be able to Judge this year’s speeches for I am proud of our language and our identity as Samoa. Malo le taumafai, malo le onosa’i, malo le pale auā e le faigofie le tapenaina o lauga. My encouragement is that you keep up the amazing work because our gagana (Language), tu ma aga i fanua (Customs and Traditions) are in good hands as we moved forward into the future. Manuia lava le fa’atāuaina o le vaiaso o le gagana Samoa ma le fa’amanatuina o le tu to’atasi. God bless.
Year 5-7 category:
Participants | School Tuvale Grey | Christ the King Joanne | Christ the King Tiare Bentley | Christ the King Uiti Lemana | Good Shepherd Tanya Hoglund | St Joseph’s
We look forward to bringing our next Kāhui Ako speech competitions for next term's Language weeks - more information will be coming at the end of this term.
ART COMPETITION
Year 8-10 category:
All the entries made clear links to the Samoan Language Week theme with some lovely designs and creative images.
The winner showed great detail to include Samoan symbols commonly seen in the traditional pe'a with the central focus being the taupo or princess of the village sitting gracefully ready to serve.
Winner: India Goldsack - Year 8 - Marist College
India Goldsack - Year 8 - Marist College
All participants produced detailed pictures with differing perspectives and interpretation of the language theme.
The winner uses a creative border within the picture with the pe'a pattern of 'Aso Taliitu the main symbol used to frame the central figure. Interesting to note this very symbol means a boy becoming a man or preparing for adulthood which is what the main character looks like he is protecting with a weapon in hand ready for battle.
I look forward to seeing the artwork from across our Kāhui Ako for next term's Language weeks - more information will be coming at the end of this term about those competitions.
Fa'afetai tele lava
Rotuman Language Week Speech and Art Competitions
The Kāhui Ako Home & School Partnership team organised a couple of competitions to support the celebration and acknowledgement of Rotuman Language Week. We have had both competitions judged by one of our own Rotuman parents, George Penjueli.
Please see below the winner's artwork along with the link below to our winning Prayer Reading recital. Lovely feedback from our judge (see comments below). Certificates and prize packs will be dropped off at the schools, ready today. Results will be posted on our Kāhui Ako website and in our newsletters.
ART COMPETITION
Years 5-7 winner: Willow Goldsack (Marist Primary – Mt Albert)
“I like the portrait from contestant number 2 for the year 5-7 artwork. The one with the red hibiscus flower in her hair. The word for the Hibiscus flower in Rotuman is Kauta - the first ‘a’ is pronounced - aw - like in paw e.g. kaw-oo-ta.’
Years 8-10 winner: India Goldsack (Marist College)
“Thank you for sharing these lovely art works … it can almost be compared to a Rotuman maiden sitting on the shores of Mofma’iro in the village of Motusa, (my mother’s village) Rotuma, looking at the sea birds fly along the shore line.”
SPEECH COMPETITION
Years 11-13 winner: Melenaite Falekaono (Marist College)
“… I just want to acknowledge the young lady for the wonderful effort she made in reciting the Lord's prayer in Rotuman especially as our language is quite difficult in its spoken form, so I must say she did very well … it was amazing to hear someone who is not Rotuman give our language a go … the tone and where this young lady gives pause, truly captures the essence of our Lord's Prayer in Rotuman, so well done to her. Overall, beautifully delivered.”
Thank you to all our schools for your support of our Kāhui Ako initiatives.
St Paul's College - Junior Health Day
This term St Paul's College held its 2nd Annual Health Day for their Junior Students; Years 7-10. The day involved all students being off their normal timetable and instead were involved in a variety of workshops, presentations and guest speakers.
The purpose of the day was to develop students' skills and knowledge to support strong Hauora (well-being).
Our school Health Team including our Counsellors, Doctor, Nurse and Dean of Student Welfare led fun and informative sessions.
Other workshops included The Heart Foundation leading sugar and nutrition education, Bucket Drumming by Demetrius Savai'inaea focusing on interpersonal and team skills, a Specsavers team talking about eye health, NZ Police focusing on Cyber Safety, Guest speakers Wetta Nuualiitia, Tai Tupou and Tagaloa Samuela discussing Resilience, Male Mental Health and the importance of Cultural Identity for well-being and Tupu Pacific Alcohol & Drugs services discussing Alcohol and Vaping.
The boys were given a booklet each at the start of the day, and they were able to reflect on the sessions and write down key information in it. Our talented student Roman Fruean (Yr9) designed the covers for each year level's booklet; each one relating to the theme of Hauora.
It was an action-packed day that concluded with our DRS leading a session on Taha Wairua (Spiritual Wellbeing) and how we can strengthen this area and the importance of all dimensions of Hauora and their interrelatedness.
Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum PLD
Tracey Pacheco
This term the ANZHC PLD facilitated by Blend Learning started with a lot of reflection of how the term went with the introduction of histories into the classroom through a guided inquiry approach. Across the board the reflection has been that teachers and students have been engaged in the rich learning of history, integrated through literacy, science and digital technology. Students have been immersed in traditional Māori kites, kūmara storage, resources of the ngāhere, erosion and land change just to name a few. Challenges we faced were finding simplified texts on these topics for our juniors and this is something we continue to work on. All schools involved in the PLD have planned their next inquiry for term 3 and are really getting to grips with the DO in the curriculum and how we can connect histories to other curriculum areas using a Mātauranga Māori lens.
Rebekah Capon of St Michael's School Remuera has engaged Year 5/6 students with a traditional kite inquiry . They are about to try their hand at creating manu tukutuku using only natural materials.
Hub 1 at Marist Mt Albert have become experts on Soil. Here the students are working on their stop motion animations showing the day in the life of a Springtail. They will use a Te Ao Māori perspective when looking for signs that soil is healthy.
Penny Lundy and the team at St Ignatius St Heliers displaying models of how the land has changed over time.
Samoan Language Week at St Francis
‘Mitamita i lau gagana, maua’a lou fa’asinomaga’
meaning
‘Be proud of your language and grounded in your identity’.
This year's theme focuses on the importance of the Samoan language and identity. It impresses on us the need not only to understand the Samoan language, but to also use it as much as possible. When you are proud of your language and can speak it, you will also be more grounded in your identity as a Samoan.
St. Francis school has a large Samoan community, so we were very much looking forward to celebrating the language and identity of our Samoan community this year.
The Samoan community and children were happy to be the leaders over the week and lead the St. Francis students in lunchtime workshops around food, arts & crafts, dance and song.
The buzz around the school over the week was infectious, and this was down to our leaders who could guide our knowledge around Samoan Language and identity.
Feedback from the children was:
‘Can we do this every week?’ and ‘We are already planning for Tongan Language Week to be just as good!’
Fa'afetai to the wonderful St.Francis Samoan community, it has been a great celebration of your language and identity.
St Paul's and St Mary's Auckland Writer's Festival Visit
As Kaiako are all aware of the huge importance of engaging our ākonga in reading. This is increasingly important the older they get when so many other things get in the way and our young people, boys and girls both, begin to lose that sheer joy of settling down with a good book. Sometimes it's because they will tell us “there is nothing to read” when of course we all have huge libraries full of texts which are relevant to them. One way to reengage our ākonga is to expose them to great writers and St Paul’s and St Mary’s did just that recently with a visit to the Auckland Writer’s Festival. The young men and women not only got to hear from real live writers but they got to ask questions and to line up to get their copies of their works signed. One writer, in particular, seemed to inspire both the boys and girls from each school and that was American poet and novelist Jason Reynolds. He told us how he had switched off from reading as a young person at school and never actually read a book in his entire High School career because there was nothing that was “speaking to him”. Fast forward to university where a lecturer finally managed to wake him up ( literally) and he read his first book where he saw himself in the pages. He credits that teacher for saving his life because he showed him the power of story to learn “persistence, to stoke the imagination, how to listen to others and most importantly how to listen to yourself and value your own story”. Powerful words and our young men and women were listening judging by their responses afterwards. They were buzzing. A highly worthwhile outing. And just on our doorstep.
Learning at OLSH
OLSH Staff members sharing about themselves in the school foyer - building whanaungatanga.
Marist Herne Bay Leaders at the National Young Leaders Day
Cassidy (Marist, Herne Bay Student Journalist)
Last Thursday Marist, Herne Bay's Year 6s went to the Dew Drop Conference Centre to participate in the National Young Leaders Day (NYLD).
There were 5 speakers, first was called Brad Smeele, who is a C4 paraplegic meaning he can’t move any of his body from the shoulders down. My favourite quote from him was ‘‘Never forget yesterday, but always live for today, because you never know what tomorrow can bring, or take away’’. He was a professional wakeboarder, until one day a move went terribly wrong. Next was Julia Grace who is a mental health instructor. Her helpful quote was “don’t ignore things because they will only come back as more of a pain”. Third was Graci Kim who is an author. She is the creator of the ice cream project, which means, try a little of everything, even if you know you will be bad at it. She also thinks the power of the mind is so strong but all you have to do to get rid of something annoying is create a switch and flick it and you're no longer annoyed by something. Fourth was D.J Forret, a former All Black. He told us that a bad attitude is like a virus, expose someone to a bad mood and they will be infected with a bad mood. Finally was Georgia Lines, a New Zealand singer and songwriter who told us all about her experience in the music industry.
Overall it was an absolutely amazing and incredibly inspiring day. Thank you NYLD!
St Francis Catholic School Year 5 and 6 Mother’s Day Breakfast
Isla - Room 5
On Friday 12th of May we (the senior school) had a mothers day breakfast. Every mum was invited although some could not come, mostly everybody brought a "mum" , even if they were not their actual mum. We organised the breakfast in groups two weeks before the breakfast. The themes for my class were the 80’s, Paris, the beach and last but not least, flowers. We also spent time on drawing and writing our menus, (not to brag but I think they were pretty good). Two children from each class were chosen to go shopping with Miss Neary. When we heard the news, eager hands shot up into the air and chatter rang through the class. The two people that were chosen from my class were Madi and Vinnie.
On Friday morning we walked into my class and our mums sat down at our beautifully decorated desks, we gave them the menu and asked if they wanted anything yet. On the menu there was: muesli, vanilla yoghurt, toast and spreads, such as jam, marmite and butter, there was also canned peaches and water or orange juice. My Mum ordered muesli with peaches and yoghurt and also toast with marmite and butter. She said the service was exquisite and the food was amazing. After the mums ate they chatted for a while until the bell rang and they had to go. Overall I think the Mothers Day breakfast went pretty well and the mums enjoyed it (at least that's what they said).
RTLB-led Dyslexia Workshop
This term we had an opportunity to offer the Kaiako across the Kāhui Ako a Workshop "Removing Barriers from the classroom for Dyslexic Learners". It was presented by two knowledgeable RTLBs from cluster 7, Karena Leask and Trish Hadfield. This detailed session gave the 44 Kaiako present clear skills and tools to add to their teaching kete. During the session, our presenters clarified what is Dyslexia, the misconceptions and misinformation, the neuroscience behind Dyslexia and ways to support our learners effectively.
It was a successful session and those in attendance gave positive feedback. A huge thanks to St Dominic's Catholic Primary for offering your school space to host the session. Next term the Kāhui Ako will offer another session that will focus on supporting our ASD learners. We will ensure schools are informed of the date, time and location.
We look forward to continuing the journey in support of our Ākonga.
Samoan Language Week at St Dominic's Primary
St Dominic's Primary celebrated Samoan Language Week with art and dance. The Pacific dance group performed for the school and community. Classes created art and completed writing to share their learning. It was great to share our culture with the rest of the school.
Pacific Art - patterns and turtles
Pacific Dance Group
Upcoming Events
Māori Mass - Save the Date!
Samoa Malaga Tautua 2023
ACCKA SAMOA MALAGA TAUTUA 2023
A team of twenty volunteers across the kāhui and their connections will be traveling to Samoa, 3-11 July. We will be working closely with SVSG (Samoa Victim Support Group), particularly with the ‘Campus of Hope’ a shelter for mainly babies, girls, and young women who have faced trauma in their lives. Spending time with the children, young women and staff will be our main focus, and a special request by the charitable organisation’s CEO, Siliniu Vitolina Chang – https://www.facebook.com/samoavictimsupportgroup
A special thanks to the team who have raised funds, sourced resources and has planned exciting activities to do with the children while there. We are very grateful to all the schools and people who have supported us through the donation of resources and money. All of it will be gifted to SVSG.
We have –
shipped two crates filled with clothing, footwear, stationery, two wheelchairs, baby items, sports equipment, three projectors, library books, linen, and toys. The freight of each crate was generously sponsored by
The delivery cost of the crates to the organisation was kindly covered by the Ministry of Revenue & Customs in Samoa.
The group has fundraised $8,400NZD equating to approximately $14,000 SAT. A mighty and triumphant effort.
Malaga Tautua team
Name | School /Role Raquel BIGGAR | Holy Trinity Catholic Primary Hannah BIGGAR | Supporter Lois BROUGH | St Paul’s College Abigail CULLEN | Ardmore Primary Michael CULLEN | Supporter Tina CULLEN | St Anne’s Primary Braiden LEITUALA | Liston College Elijah LEITUALA | Liston College Marius LEITUALA | Liston College Patricia LEMUSU | Don Buck Primary Arlo MADDREN | Supporter Annastasia MATAI | Marist College Elyse MCKECHNIE | Marist College Chanel MEHROTRA | Marist College. Elijah PAPALI’I | St Paul’s College Mafa PAPALI’I | Supporter Livingstone PAPALI’I | Oaklynn Special School Glenn STANBRIDGE | St Paul’s College Makerita TAGOMOA-PAPALI’I | Marist College Laureen TIA-LEITUALA | St Dominic’s Primary
There is a Samoan proverb, ‘A fia vave o'o lou va'a, alo na o 'oe, ae e fia tuli mamao le taunu'uga, tātou 'alo'alo fa'atasi’ which means ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together’.
We have chosen to go together.
Fa’afetai, fa’afetai, fa’afetai tele lava.
Ia manuia.
Makerita Tagomoa-Papali’i
Trip Organiser
Literacy Kōrero
The Kāhui Ako welcomes you to a hui on the new literacy corequisite which is being mandated in 2024 for all secondary school students in order to achieve the NCEA. We welcome all interested primary and secondary kaiako who would like to know more about what our ākonga will need in order to meet both the literacy and numeracy co-requisites at secondary school. This will be an informal korero to share what it is we can all do to help our ākonga be successful in their pathway to NCEA.
Venue: TBC Date: 3rd August
More information to follow early next term,
Pacific Language Week Celebrations
We have four upcoming events for Pacific Language week events. A speech and art competition for Kiribati and the Cook Islands.
Below you will find all the information, with the speech competiton details as files underneath the art posters.
There will be a Pasifika Teachers networking event on the 17th of August, 4-5.30pm, St Dominic’s School, Blockhouse Bay. Stay tuned for more information.
Resources
Key Ministry of Education Documents
A couple of years ago our Across School Leaders investigated and synthesised some key MOE documents to make life a little easier for schools.
They are attached below for teachers and school leaders to have a look at and maybe put up in the staffroom. The PDF versions, with links are on our Kāhui Ako website (link below).
A website that allows a teacher to set up a group for students to respond to their learning through video. The videos are kept together under a prompt or question. Members of the group can view and give feedback on each other's responses. This is a great way to collect voice, or as a learning tool for students to record their thoughts and ideas about a topic.
This site removes the background of a photo - you didn't know you needed it but it is great for students to manipulate images...putting themselves into other photos.
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