Kapa Haka Noho Marae

After our PES whānaungatanga hui on Wednesday night our senior Kapa Haka group stayed the night on Ruapotaka marae.  It was the groups first sleepover (noho marae) and we were all very stoked to be staying on our local marae.

We spent the next day perfecting kapa haka waiata and waiata aringa.  Their next performance was scheduled for Friday @ Waipuna Lodge in Mt Wellington.

 The kōhine (girls) got to finish off making poi, while other girls helped prepare lunch.

The boys spent time with Mr G sorting our actions for waiata and learning guitar chords for each of the waiata.  They also practiced a haka for their performance on Friday.

There was also another hui on at the marae while we were staying there.  The hui was for Financial Literacy (G-Fit) and our students were asked to perform for manuhiri (visitors) We welcomed the opportunity and our students made us proud yet again.

Our day ended with a hakari (feast) - the kōhine did a wonderful job preparing our hangi.  We shared lunch before walking back to school.  In summary we had an amazing experience on Ruapotaka Marae and we all look forward to the next one.

Whakawhanaungatanga Hui @ Ruapotaka Marae

We finally had a whanaungatanga hui for our whānau on Wednesday evening.  We felt very blessed to meet at our local Marae - Ruapotaka. 

Even though the weather was dismal, we had a great turnout.  Whānau and staff assembled at 5.30pm ready for the pōwhiri @ 5.45pm.  We were welcomed by kaumatua Tautoko Witika and ngā kaitiaki of Ruapotaka Marae.  It was a warm and wonderful welcome and we felt very much at home.

After our pōwhiri, we spent time getting to know each other and shared kai.  Our senior kapa haka students (who were also staying the night for their first noho marae) performed for whānau to conclude the hui.  We have awesome whānau wanting the very best for their tamariki and our school.  We all look forward to our next hui and hope to meet again at Ruapotaka Marae.

He mihi nui, he mihi aroha ki a Georgie Thompson and her team/whānau for their tautoko and allowing us to meet at such a special place. 

Jam Bus records PES waiata

Wednesday 25th June 2014, PES brought in the Jam Bus (Mobile Recording Studio) to record waiata for a school resource.  Our talented Kapa Haka group sang the songs that were especially written for their group by their kaiako Mr Patrick Gemmell.  The Jam Bus crew were impressed with the groups singing and we had finished recording all their songs before morning tea.

We are super proud of our Kapa Haka group and we look forward to hearing their professional recordings.  As soon as the discs come in, we will upload them onto our Māori @ PES site for all to enjoy.  Their songs are slowly being integrated into our whole school repertoire of waiata.

Poi making with Whaea Denise

This morning we were blessed to have Whaea Denise come in and teach some of our senior kapa haka girls how to make poi.

These girls will become the experts and teach the rest of their kapa haka sisters how to make poi at our noho marae next week.

The girls learned how to cut their string to the correct length, how to cut their foam squares into the poi heads, how to do four plait, how to sew their string onto their poi head and how to cover and tie on their two layers of plastic.

The girls loved their session with Whaea Denise and will be spending the next few lunchtimes finishing their practice poi ready to teach the others next week.

He mihi aroha, he mihi nunui ki a koe Whaea Denise... Thank you for sharing your taonga with us x

Karo Poua - strikes and blocks for mau rakau

 

Tyla-Marie and Isara demonstrate both the Poua (strikes) and the Karo (Blocks) coupled with the stabbing (Or Whakarehu) movements

People Leaders Day Performance @ Victoria Park Market

On Thursday 8th May 2014, our senior kapa haka group traveled to Victoria Park Market to perform for the 'People Leaders Day - Unleashing Potential' event run by Telecom.

We arrived on our luxury coach a little after 5.30pm.  The group were ushered to our changing room and began getting ready for our bracket.  Students were buzzing and excited to be performing outside of our school grounds.

The stage looked magnificent, illuminated by colourful lights and was dwarfed by an ancient Pohutukawa Tree.  This sight heightened the excitement of our students.  5 minutes before our start time, the heavens opened and down came the rain.

What started as a light shower soon turned into a downpour.  We rushed into the 'plan B' area, which was the market's car park.  The chaos didn't phase our wonderful students as they quickly repositioned themselves under the shelter of level one car park.  "Start now, start now" was the signal from Hannah, the event organiser.

The shelter acted as an amplifier and sent the beautiful voices of our group out towards and beyond the Victoria cricket grounds.  The managers from 120 different telecom retailers around NZ hovered around the performing group, enjoying the protection from the rain and the marvelous singing.

The group represented our school and community with kaha and dignity and were acknowledged for their efforts by Chris Quin who is the Chief Executive of Telecom Retail.  A generous koha was handed over from Mr Quin to our very own kaia Tyler-Marie and we are very grateful for both the opportunity for our students and the koha which will go towards whānau hui and Kapa Haka wānanga.

After the manuhiri tuārangi (distinguished guests) left, I could tell by students actions and faces, that the they experienced the pride of 'taonga tuku iho' (treasures passed down to us)  left by our Tupuna.  A wonderful experience for everyone involved - we are so proud of our students.  "Whaia kia eke' Strive to succeed!

2014 Fiafia

Every two years, Pt England School celebrates diversity with a Fiafia evening. Students choose which performance they want to participate in and spend time learning their dances.  We had 22 groups to choose from such as  Hip hop, Cook Island Drums, Tongan dance, Samoan Groups, Kapa haka and many more.

This year we were lucky enough to have 3 Kapa Haka groups - Junior, Middle School and Senior Kapa Haka. They all performed with dignity and pride and most importantly, had fun.

It was an amazing evening that lasted just over 2 hours.  We were all very proud of their performances and look forward to the next one in 2016. A big mihi to our community - over 2500 whānau members came to tautoko.

Check out the movie below made by Jordenne and Sela, it shows a snippet of our celebration.

Fiafia Movie - Jordenne and Sela from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.