Year: 2023

Te Wiki o te Reo Maori 2023

This week it was Te Wiki o te Reo Maori (Maori Language Week). To celebrate, our school had an opening assembly and a flag raising ceremony on Monday. Throughout the week, children had the opportunity to take part in challenges. They were: Art challenge, the longest place name, pepeha and pūkana challenge.

Our Te Reo Maori moment was on Thursday. Our whole school came together to sing this waiata Reo Ora by PERE. This was to mark the Te Maori petition presented to parliament on 14th of September, 1972.

During our closing assembly our senior, middle school and junior kapa haka roopu presented their items. Between each item, prizes were awarded to children who won the challenges. Viliami was a winner for the longest place name challenge. Thank you to our Te Wiki o te Reo Maori team for organising an amazing week for our school. Here are some clips from our tū meke week.

Tongan Language Week 2023

The theme for Uike Lea Faka-Tonga 2023 is ‘E tu’uloa ‘a e Lea faka-Tongá ‘o ka lea’aki ‘i ‘api, siasí (lotú), mo e nofo-‘a-kāingá, which means the Tongan Language will be sustainable if used at home, church and in the wider community. Click here for more from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.

At Weymouth Primary School it was a wonderful week of celebrating Tongan Language Week. On Monday we had our opening assembly. We had children performing items and we sang the Tongan National Anthem. Lots of parents joined us to help with our celebrations. On Wednesday our Tongan parents and community hosted a feast for our staff and children. Friday was our closing assembly. The winners from our school challenges were announced and prizes were given out. Here are some highlights from our amazing week. Well done to our Tongan Language Week committee team of teachers and our Tongan parents and community. Mālō aupito.

Manurewa Rehu Tai Speech Competition

Today was the Manurewa local schools Rehu Tai speech competition. Each category: speech, rap, flash talk and spoken word can only have one person from each school. This year we had Raisha share her speech and Cassie shared her flash talk. Competition was fierce and there were lots more schools involved this year. We are so proud of them for representing our kura. 

Waimahia Intermediate Open Day

On Wednesday our Year 6 Rangi Team travelled by bus to Waimahia Intermediate School for their Open Day. The Waimahia Kapa Haka group welcomed us with a powhiri and Samuel said his mihi and pepeha on our behalf. We sang Matua Reg’s waiata “Hoki mai ra” led by Sarah. After the formalities our children were divided and mixed up into four different groups. Each group represented a house at Waimahia. They had time to practice a chant and were awarded points throughout the day for participation and effort.

All groups then had a chance to experience a taster of some of the different areas of specialisations they have at Waimahia Intermediate. Like: STEAM, Cooking, Visual Arts and Music. Check out some pictures and movies below of our time there.

Maths Week

This week across Aotearoa, New Zealand was Maths Week. The purpose of Maths Week is to help build self-confidence and strengthen problem solving in this subject area. Our whole school had activities and lessons prepared by our Maths team. Thank you Maths Team!! We also had a daily challenge for each day of the week. During lunchtime, groups of children competed against other classes in their year group, to solve maths problems. Winners were announced daily and prizes were won. It was so much fun taking part in Maths Week and we’re looking forward to the next one. Here are a few pics from Maths week.

Rangi Team visit the Sikh Temple

Have you been to the Sikh Temple in Takanini? It’s proper name is Takanini Gurdwara Sri Kalgidhar Sahib. For the majority of us, it was our first time. We were allowed to into the temple upstairs but had to remove our socks and shoes and wash and dry our hands first. All of us had to wear a bright orange bandana to cover our heads. Upstairs in the praying area, we had to be absolutely quiet and respectful. That meant no loud voices and definitely no running around. There were people from the Sikh community there sitting and praying too.

Chandan and Dilraj were our hosts and they talked to us about the history and the purpose of the temple. They also answered any questions we had. Next they took us downstairs to the Langar which is where people eat. Our hosts took us around the langar and  talked to us about the large portraits of Sikh people that hung on the walls right around the hall. There were so many.

Then we sat on blue mats and we were served trays, dishes and utensils for food. Lots of men came to serve us our food and gave us coke, sprite and orange juice to drink. We were all very spoilt.

After eating and taking lots of photos, we quickly ran around the back of the temple area to the sports complex. There was an astro turf for hockey and football,  a court for basketball and a huge area for lots of sports. It was amazing.

We thanked our hosts and chefs and sang our waiata. Then it was time for us to head back to school. Here are some pics and videos of our amazing experience there. Thank you Mrs Khatgar for organising this for us! You can also check out more by viewing learner blogs.

Cook Island Language Week

Kia orana! It’s been a wonderful week celebrating Cook Island Language Week. Our whole school celebrated each day with sharing by our manea (beautiful) tamariki. The children shared a prayer and basic language phrases everyday. The Cook Island children also visited classrooms across the school and shared stories in Cook Island too. Room 18 also made poke a dessert made from banana mixed with arrowroot and baked in the oven. Here are some photos from us making poke today.

Our school gathered in the hall for the closing assembly. It was a time for lots of sharing and viewing of what classes have done right across the school. There were lots of groups and classes that shared on stage. Winners from the weekly challenge were also announced and given prizes. Here are a few videos from the assembly today.