Iron Māori Rangatahi & Tamariki 2015

Most of you who follow our blog will be familiar with our super tri squad students who have been training for the Iron Māori event in Ahuriri (Napier),  Lee, Collin, Iisa, Stevenson, Nikki, Tyli, Chelsea, Khaia and Quinlan.


Ironmāori Kids from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Last week students and their whānau travelled down to compete in Iron Māori Rangatahi and Tamariki.  I managed to capture some footage on my Go Pro and along with photgraphs from Paul Tiaiti put together this little movie which highlights our day down in Ahuriri.

We hope you are inspired by the event and may think of doing it one day yourself - whether you are Rangatahi, Tamariki or older :)  You can check out the details here!

Ngā mihi nunui ki ngā whānau who travelled down with us to tautoko their kids - thank you for all your support throughout the year.

A special mihi to our awesome supporters.  Variety, Stellar International and YMCA Glen Innes

He Māori Ahau - Manaiakalani Film Festival Movie 2015

PES_Tito_HeMāoriAhau from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

I interviewed Māori students from different levels of our school.  I asked them a number of questions, partly because I was curious to see what kids thought and whether being 'urban' Māori would be different from 'rural' Māori.  I guess there are similarities and differences.  So this movie was created with the intention of sharing the true voices of Māori kids right here and right now at Pt England School - October 2015.

What intrigued me the most was the question "Who is your Māori Hero?"  A lot of our kids saw sports heroes who played for the All Blacks or NZ Kiwis who were of Pasifika descent, as their Māori Heroes.  Some tamariki struggled to answer at all.  So it made me think how important it is for our kids to be exposed to some of our great heroes such as Dame Whina Cooper, Sir Apirana Ngata,Hekenukumai (Hector) Busby, Hone Heke, Inia Te Wiata and Billy T James just to name a few.

Enjoy 'He Māori Ahau'
Arohanui x

E Te Tipuna Parehuia

Hau Kiwi

Waiata Mai Koutou . . .

Para kore = Zero waste!

Room 27 and Room 16 were looking after Papatuanuku today.

'Kaitiakitanga o te Whenua'
E harikoa ana ahau i tāku ngakau mo ngā aroha me ngā awhi i roto i te kaupapa i te rā nei.
For Te Reo Maori today these 2 classes were keen to help keep Papatuanuku clean.

We split up into roopu Tahi, Rua, Toru, Wha, Rima
Each roopu was given a rubbish bag each. . .we filed out of class and swept across the field . . . down the park. . . around some corners filling our peke up with lunch wrappers, chip packets, straws, fruit peels and other interesting things.

We loved the way all these tamariki got stuck in and did their best to help keep Papatuanuku clean today by picking up rubbish where ever they could.

Too Much Tamariki ma!!
PARA KORE = ZERO WASTE
CHUCK IT IN THE BIN

Arohanui:  Whaea Saf

Jam Bus

I haere matou nga tauira o te kura o Pt. England ki te wharefono ki te tito e toru nga waiata tino miharo! 

tito – compose 

miharo – awesome

Ka mihi kia Jam Bus mo te whai wa kia matou, me te whakapau kaha kia ea nga wawata me nga moemoea a nga tamariki.

whai wa - gave the time 

whakapau kaha – putting in the efforts 

ea – achieve

wawata me nga moemoea - dreams and aspirations

Nga mihi nui rawa atu kia Whaea Paddy raua ko Matua Aterea mo to korua tautoko awhina mai ia matou te roopu Pounamu, arohanui kia korua!!! 

korua – two people

tautoko awhina - help, support

roopu - group

Tau ke nga mahi Pounamu!

Whanaungatanga @ PES

Every Friday afternoons we open our whare fono up for whānau to meet and 'korero'.  We discuss our tamariki, our kura, our community and more.

It's an opportunity for whanaungatanga and to build positive relationships with our Māori whānau.

This week Whaea Denise came in to drop off the ataahua long poi for our kapa haka groups.  She also showed our Mums how to make poi earrings.  We are very blessed to have whaea come in and work with our whānau.

Mr Blakey, Room 14 and Harakeke

Whaea Saf took us down to the creek where there is some beautiful harakeke growing by the stream. She sang a lovely karakia before telling us which strands of harakeke we could cut: Not the baby in the middle, nor its parents on either side, but the grandparents on the outside.
After she'd cut some off, she showed us how to weave a star (which is what we'll be doing next week) and how to make a "clapper" which used to be given to kids to keep them busy while mum weaved. We carefully collected up the flax that had been cut and took it back to class.

Check out some pics of our awesome activity:  Reported by Mr Blakey

Whanaungatanga Hui - celebrating Matariki

Last Friday evening, we held our first Whanaungatanga Hui for the year.  It was a great opportunity for us to meet and greet as Māori Whānau and also to celebrate the Māori New Year - Matariki.

A number of whānau attended where we introduced ourselves, talked about where we are from and who our tamariki/mokopuna are attending PES.  Whānau were given booklets to read and give us feedback on how we move forward as whānau to support our kura and tamariki.

The students played in the hall with Miss Va'afusuaga looking after them or some read quietly in our school library while whānau introduced themselves in the Staffroom.

After all the korero, we had karakia and shared kai.  It was lovely to meet two new whānau to the community.  After our kai we cleaned up and finished our hui at 8.30pm.  What an enjoyable hui.  Thank you to the whānau who attended and also to the whānau who sent in their apologies.  He mihi aroha ki a koe Miss Va'afusuaga for your tautoko too.

Our next Hui will be in a couple of weeks so keep Wednesday 1st July free from 5.45pm onwards.  Nau mai haere mai whānau!

Middle Kapa Haka Group

Our Year 5/6's have a new kapa haka kaiako called Whaea Paddy.  The tamariki LOVE her.  She has taught them a new himene called 'Te Atua' in only 2 weeks.  Their singing is ataahua and we are very proud and blessed to have Whaea come and share her taonga.

Here's a karaoke version of their new himene.  Learn and practise and please come and sing it to Ms Tito, Whaea Saf or Whaea Paddy.  Ka pai!


Te Atua from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Students aiming for Iron Māori

We have selected 8 senior students to train for Iron Māori Tamariki and Rangatahi (Aquathon and Triathlon) that is held annually down in Napier in December.

The tamariki event (age 10-12 yrs) consists of a 200m swim in Pandora Pond, followed by a 3km run and the Rangatahi event (age 13-17) consists of a 500m swim,  14km cycle, followed by a 3km run.

We have started training down at our local YMCA centre and are very grateful for the awesome manager and staff who lets us train during our lunch times using their fantastic facilities and equipment.

You can check out our triathletes individual profiles on their blog that has been created to share their journeys and progress.

We are all really excited about reppin' PES down at the awesome event that is IronMāori.

Thousands welcome Waka

Mālama Honua brought Hawai'i's education leaders to the Manaiakalani schools to learn about our innovative education practices at Pt England Beach, Auckland, NZ.

Ōiwi TV 'From Hawaii, to the world' shares the wonderful event that was 'Manaiakalani meets Mālama Honua'



Manaiakalani: High-end Polynesian Tech from Oiwi TV on Vimeo.

Tuakana Teina in full swing with Yr 7/8's and Room 13

Check out Miss Kings post about the awesome Tuakana Teina programme running in Room 13.

New Waiata - Taukiri e

Here's our new waiata that our senior kapa haka group are learning.  You may notice that our senior group has grown - Mr G and myself are very happy to have new students join our roopu.  Students worked very hard learning this new waiata about leadership.  Ka pai koutou. 

This video is posted to help our students learn the actions.


Taukiri e actions from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Here's the karaoke version for those students who may have missed our practice today and for those of you keen on learning this waiata. Kia kaha!

Karaoke Taukiri e from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Yr 5/6 Kapa Haka

Our Year 5/6 Kapa Haka group meet every Thursdays after morning tea in our school hall.  They are a lovely roopu and Whaea Saf loves teaching them.  Today they were perfecting their 'e oho' waiata and actions. 

Room 11's e oho practice!

Here's some footage taken during Room 11's Te Reo session with Whaea Saf today.  They are practicing our waiata tira for next week's Hōkūlea and Hikianalia waka visit.  Aren't they awesome!


IMG 1820 from Team 3 PES on Vimeo.

Only one week to go before Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia come ashore onto Ukutoia!

Matua Patrick was away last week so after our karakia, we started our practise discussing some of the logistics for the day. 

We then split into groups and worked with some of the leaders going over kupu and actions.  The rest of the leaders went outside to distract the rest of the school with their awesome chanting.  Thank you to the wonderful staff from other schools who stepped in to tautoko students by helping them gain confidence with the waiata tira.

The Ngā waka waiata is sounding great.  This weeks practice will involve the taiaha being used to keep us all in time with the chant so it will be interesting.

E oho wero!

During our 'E oho' practise last week we split into roopu/groups.  There were 4 schools per roopu and they went away and gave the waiata tira some kaha/strength.  They then came back and performed for each of the other roopu before coming together.  Here's the result of their mahi/work.

E oho wero from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Aloha Captain Kālepa Baybayan

As some of you know we are REALLY looking forward to the Mālama Honua visit later this Month.  We may have two waka come into Pt England Beach and we are very excited.

Today we met the Captain and Pwo (master) navigator Kālepa Baybayan and his wonderful crew.  They came to check out our school and the beach, to make sure it was safe to bring their waka ashore.

Our junior Kapa Haka group were privaledged to sing to them while they were being shown around our kura.  They sang beautifully, we are proud of our tamariki.

We then had a video call with Naalehu Anthony & Miki Tomita in Hawaii regarding the visit in Russell's office.  Everything is coming together nicely for this fantastic event.  Watch this space for updates.

Mau rakau 2015

Our first mau rakau class started last week taken by Mr Gemmell. We realised that a number of students forgot about our after school practise so we are hoping for a few more students this week.

We had a very special presentation during our first class also. We have one student who is now Year 8 who attended last years classes. His name is Iisa Salie. Mr Gemmell and I wanted to do something special for Iisa because of his dedication and commitment shown last year. Iisa now has his very own taiaha which was named by Mr Gemmell - It's name is 'Tira', maybe you can ask Iisa about Tira?

We look forward to seeing the development of our students mau rakau skills. So, watch this space!  They are currently learning the Ahai.

Iisa with "Tira" his new taiaha

Mau rakau 2015

E oho actions

It was wonderful to see everyone again at our Manaiakalani practise with some new faces, staff members and students.

We spent time in our practise today learning a new karakia written for all our schools, and the actions for E oho.  Here's a little movie of us practising.

E oho actions from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

E oho hui

This footage was taken during the first hui/meeting of all the Manaiakalani Schools held at Pt England School, Auckland, NZ.

In March 2015 a very special event is happening right here at Pt England Beach. We are lucky enough for the Hikinalia Waka, which is part of the Mālama Hōnua Voyage, to sail into Ukutoia (Maori name for Pt England area).

As part of this amazing event The Principals from the 12 Manaiakalani Cluster of Schools, decided that a special Waiata or Haka be written specifically for welcoming the Hikianalia crew and passengers.

Our Kapa Haka tutor Patrick Gemmell wrote this Waiata Tira for this occasion.  You can click here for more information (translation) about this special song. Here's our first practise together.



1st E oho Hui from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Nau mai hoki mai :)

He mihi nunui ki a koutou.  Wow its been a busy start to 2015.

My first post is to acknowledge our wonderful senior Kapa Haka group last year.  Especially those who have started their journeys at high school.  A number of our students have asked for footage of their final performances together during our 2014 Prize givings, both Junior and Senior.

So this is for you seniors with much Aroha from myself, Mr G and your PES whānau x