Whanau Day

Whanau is family in Maori.

My school, Point Chevalier School held her Whanau day and invited parents, grand parents, uncles, aunties, children and babies to our school.

It was great to see about two hundred visitors to join us today to share in some of our activities. Our students are always very enthusiastic about having their families come into school and see what fantastic learning is taking place here.

Visitors were welcomed with a powhiri in Te Whare Pupuritanga led by Emerson Nikora and our kapahaka group. This solemn event is an eye opener to me as I had not been closed up to a Karanga or a call to welcome the visitors. As a respect, during the Karanga, there were no further entries into the Te Whare Pupuritanga or Auditorium. We remembered our students who died in the WW1 and WW2. The formal ession ended with a Hongi, which is a Maori greeting by rubbing noses.

Throughout the day, our mini showcase gave visitors the opportunity to view some of our bands, our Jump Jam aerobic teams, both of our choirs and to hear about some of this year’s projects from the Envirogroup. Visitors were welcomed to attend class time with their children. I had a mum come to my ESOL room to see what her son was doing with me.

In the evening, we had a Rock concert in our auditorium.Featuring School Rock Bands from neigbourhood schools featuring :Pasadena Intermediate (The Wild Cage Creatures), Ponsonby Primary (Workbench), Point Chevalier School (The Dynamites, The Chevrolites, and The Pt Chev R&B singers) and LE Rock Tutors. I took Sam and his two friends to the concert. We raised food for the City Mission. The music was loud, I wished I was young again.

http://www.ptchev.school.nz/