| Kia ora mai e te tini, e te mano. Kua tae te karanga a Rehua ki a tatou te korowai o Wairaka. E nga hunga kua wheturangihia, e moe, e oki. E nga waihotanga, nga uri a Tiki. Tihei mauriora. Mate atu he teeteekura. Haramai raa, he teeteekura. Teenee koutou e te whanau whaanui" KAPA HAKA NOHO Kia ora koutou, It is only 2 weeks until Polyfest and it is vital that we use our time over the coming weeks effectively. This coming weekend we have our second Kapa Haka noho. Please ensure your tamariki is able to attend this Noho. If your tamariki are not able to attend they must contact Matua Tahau prior to the event. 2nd - 3rd March 2013 Kapa Haka Noho At Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Nga Maungarongo, 140 Haverstock Rd, Mt Albert 1025 Noho will start at 9am on Saturday morning and finish at 2pm on Sunday. Parents Meeting - On Sunday the 2nd of March at 12.30pm there will be a meeting for all year 9 and year 10 parents. This meeting will focus on the junior graduation programme and how you can support your tamariki in the coming school years. Te Puna o Wairaka Kapa Haka Panui Te Kapa Haka o Te Puna o Wairaka INVITATION TO TE PUNA GRADUATION/ FAREWELL VENUE: Mount Albert Grammar School House
DATE: Tuesday 26th November 2012
TIME: 6.00pm 9.00pm You are formally invited to attend the farewell celebrations of the Te Puna o Wairaka graduating class of 2012. We would appreciate all our returning students and whanau / supporters of our Y13 students to attend to acknowledge this special occasion. If you are part of the returning whanau in 2013 you are expected to be seated in the lounge at school house by 5.45pm, and if you are the whanau / supporters of our graduating students please assemble outside the main gate entrance at 6.00pm. This is a formal occasion for the whnau therefore students should be in school uniform (stockings - girls, shirt/trousers and tie boys). The leavers are to be in formal attire also. (Boys -collared shirt and formal trousers, no jeans; girls - dresses or dress trousers) There will be performances by all the students. A programme of the night will be sent out soon. Te Puna o Wairaka will provide a light meal. We are asking whanau to provide a koha of a dessert to share later in the evening. This needs to be delivered to the kitchen on the night. I would appreciate a reply to this notice by filling out the slip attached to the letter sent. This is to enable us to cater for the numbers attending. Please send the notice back to school by Tuesday 12 November. If you have any queries please contact Reg Korau, on 8462044 ext 8105 or by email at rkorau@mags.school.nz Naku raa, Reg Korau (HOF Te Puna) EXAMS The senior school had the exams at the end of Term Three and again there were many positives for our tamariki in L1-3. There was huge improvement for many students from their mid-year exams. This bodes well for the upcoming external exams in November. RESIGNATION It is with my humblest thanks that I have tendered my resignation to the school to take a new position at Napier Boys High School in 2013. The school has been informed and will have an advert in the Education Gazette forthwith. I would like to thank you all for your support and loyalty to the Puna and our tamariki and hope to see you all at the Puna farewell in November. Naku ra, Reg Korau Maori Kaiako Report. Whanau Hui Maori Leadership Group A new initiative introduced is Senior Maori Leaders within the school. We have 10 currently; Miro Harre, Morgan Puru, Patrina Guptill, Nathan Kara, Tayla Broomfield, Alex Wigley, Rhonda Lepper, Raveena Nand, Javan Perez and Aaron McLelland. These leaders organise activities and assist with assemblies within the school. They have MCd special assemblies such as the Maori Careers Evening and the Maori Assemblies. Manu Korero Speeches We entered the Manu Krero Regional Speech Competitions and had three fine representatives: - Te Turi Kara- Junior English; Keepa Wiki - Rawhiti Ihaka- Junior Mori; Tuteauru Maipi - Pei Te Hurinui Jones- Senior Maori; Tumanawa Tawhai  The students represented the school and the community excellently. Tumanawa and Tuteauru were placed fourth overall and Keepa was placed sixth. This was a great effort for our students competing against 22 other schools. Scholars Lion We must acknowledge our academic successes, Kahikatea Wilson for receiving his Academic Lion. Sports  We must also focus on our co-curricular achievements many of our tamariki have been successful members of Regional winning teams, and National champions. We have Parehuia MacKay in the 1st XI Girls Soccer team, Malcolm Kohere, Kristian Henry and Kurt Thompson in the 1st XV Rugby, Meretini Fuimaono, Chiara Semple and Maia Wilson in the Premier Netball team. In Basketball, Kahikatea Wilson and Jess Nicholson. Te Ao Frandi, Sade Rihari, Casey Smith and Paige Smith in Touch. Aotea Frandi in Athletics. The wonderful factor about this being so many of these students are young members of their teams.  Matariki We had a quiet cold introduction to the Matariki celebrations with a cold gathering on top of Mt Albert to see the new year in. We hope that it brings success to us all and new life to our whanau. Te Wiki o te Reo Maori Maori Language Week, we had many students being involved in powhiri, competitions and kapa haka. On Monday 23rd we welcomed 40 students from China to the school with a powerful and well presented haka powhiri. The group were strong and impressed our visitors. Maori Assembly At our first Maori assembly of the term on Wednesday 25th July, we had a very well presented and informative presentation. Then we followed with Parehuia MacKay and Aotea Frandi both speaking about  their experience at Kura Reo in Otaki during the holidays. This is an immersion school for those who wish to enhance their language. The girls really enjoyed their time and were thankful that the school had assisted them to attend. It was very inspiring to see them feel so positive and utilising their reo again. We had Rachael Tuwhangai speak about her research she did on Maori academic success, Te Pukenga, in different schools and how being Maori is an advantage. It was very interesting to see how Maori students at Mount Albert Grammar School compared to other schools. The different range of students we had also was interesting. Her most important point being how beneficial Maori was to us as people and learners.  Sausage Sizzle Also on Friday 27th we had a sausage sizzle. Although the theme was AROHATIA te REO, we know that we LOVE food just as much. Combined Kapa Haka We had approximately 100 students learning a new Haka in the new gym. The haka was enjoyed by all and plans to include more of the school is a focus. This was written by Matua Tahau. Whaea Natalia has planned some Puna activities to help build whanaungatanga and manaakitanga within our ropu. Activities include Ki o rahi, Waka Ama and Super 6 items. Info attached. Homework Centre & Tutorials   The Maori Homework Centre started Tuesday 31st to assist with English and Maori. We had 12 students from Puna. KRU has been ringing students of concern or below average to attend.This will run Tuesdays, 3.15pm-4.30pm every week until Week 9 when exams will be on. We will try to continue this in Term Four also.We have also introduced Maths to the Tutorials and have Mrs Johanna McHardy working with a group of 12 at the moment. The students were very pleased with the assistance and enjoyed the first session. Career's Pathway Evening We had a well presented and informative information evening for Maori students regarding their option pathways and course selections for 2013. The night was run with the support of John Pipe and Judy Lawrie. We had staff representatives from Social Sciences, Maths, English, PE, Science and Maori. There were approximately 50 people in attendance and was very helpful with explanations about the Academic Guide and also scholarships available. We had support from our newly appointed Prefect Miro Harre and Cathy Elder. They gave their viewpoint about the value of the flowcharts and advice from the Careers advisor and Deans. It was very helpful to hear how two successful Maori students had utilised the guide and information available. They encouraged students to get testimonials and apply for scholarships. It was well received by all who attended.   KAIAWHINA TE REO MAORI We have 3 kaiwahina assisting in our classes with the Junior accelerate Maori students in Year 9 and 10. They are Te Rina Keenan, Kimiora Malesala and Whaea Rina Clark. This has been very helpful for our Rumaki students who are based in a beginners class due to class sizes. 
Tena ano koutou kua rauika nei I runga te karanga o te ope kainga nei.
Nei ra, nga whakaaro ki a ratou ma kua wheturangihia.
Huri kau ana ki a tatou nga rangi takapu.
Tihei mauriora. This term has started well and has been full on. We have many tamariki involved in sport and activities. We have had a unification of the Iwi kainga with the Maori students from throughout the school having their first full assembly. Miro Harre and Nathan Kara coordinated this assembly and introduced our guest speakers. We were pleased to see both Tatahi Rawiri-McDonald and Richard Ngata return to school to talk to Year 11-13 students about preparation for university and the importance of exam preparation as well as decision making in regard to courses at university. Tatahi started his study with his focus in the area of Architecture but he soon realized that it was not wanted he wanted to do and is now enrolled in Law.He stated that it is important that you enjoy what you do and that you put the time into passing well in your subjects. University is very different from School, there are no teachers that follow up on whether you complete things, you have to be motivated to achieve for yourself. Richard spoke about having a clear direction and that he has set his goals as a pictorial. He showed it to us. He is in his second year at university and has been accepted into the surgical medicine. He talked about how stressful it was in his first year not knowing whether he would be accepted into medicine. He had to achieve certain grades. However that is history and he went on to talk about the fact he was going in to University and dissecting the shoulder of a cadaver. At school he said he had wanted to be surround by students that would challenge him academically so chose subjects like physics, biology and chemistry. He had to work hard in these subjects to keep up with others in the class. Both students were scholar lion recipients and prefects we will follow them with interest over the next fours years to see how they progress. MAGS Maori Careers Expo with Year 11-13 Monday 14th May 6-8pm.  This was coordinated by Rangimarie Pomare Maori Liaison at Auckland University. This was supported by the University of Auckland, MIT, Massey University, South Seas Productions, Defence Careers, Auckland College of Education, AUT and Unitec. The night was begun with a karakia by Reg Korau and then a short welcome given to the different guests who had made the time to attend and present.  The Leaders group of Aaron McLelland, Patrina Guptill and Raveen Nand were very well spoken and organized and introduced themselves with their pepeha. They also introduced the different groups and then assisted with showing the whanau around the venue and displays. All the parents were very upbeat and impressed with the presentations and the reports given by current students in the different establishments. It was very pleasing to see approximately 150 people attend the night.  We had a great term last term with the Red Cross Appeal Day and the whnau getting involved by finding their redest and whitest kakahu possible. This was a wonderful day and showed the true spirit of PUNA and the school. We also farewelled the Japanese school group who had been visiting the school for two weeks. Premier Sports Many of our tukana have been named in Premier teams for the winter season. Congratulations to Chiara Semple, Maia Wilson, Meretini Fuimaono- Netball, Kristian Henry, Dalton Woodman, Malcolm Kohere-Rugby and Parehuia MacKay- Football. | 
