Rangitoto holds hui to promote cultures

Rangitoto College has held its first hui bringing Ma¯ori and Pasifika students together as it determines how it can promote te ao Ma¯ ori and Pasifika culture within, and beyond, the school.

Year 9 to 13 Ma¯ori and Pasifika students gathered together on February 21 to discuss how to further embrace the school’s value of diversity.

Principal Patrick Gale said the aim of the hui, and the formation of a committee of senior Ma¯ori and Pasifika students, was to ensure the school had an authentic cultural voice.

‘‘The key long-term outcome is that our Ma¯ ori and Pasifika students feel valued at home in the school - they feel safe, they feel their culture is represented in a way which fits them as a people but also allows the other cultures in the school to learn from them.’’

Gale told the students, who represent 8.7 per cent of the school’s population of 3238 students, they were the school’s greatest resource.

‘‘Today we would like you to develop your own ideas, to decide how and where you would like to develop the identity of the school through embracing our Ma¯ori and Pasifika cultures. To connect yourselves and others to the great richness that each of your whakapapa or ancestry brings, to bring your stories to life and to write new stories for others to follow and learn from.’’

Student leaders Robbie Cederwall and Ryan Hulme (Nga¯ puhi) shared Gale’s view.

Hulme, whose ancestors Eru Patuone and Tamati Waka Nene signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi, said the aim of the committee was to make sure students’ identity was accepted and encouraged within the school.

‘‘We’re trying to get more Ma¯ ori and Pasifika students to express themselves as Ma¯ori and Pasifika and to be proud of that.’’

For Cederwall, the school’s engagement with its Ma¯ ori and Pasifika students was all about ensuring students were one aiga (family in Samoan).

‘‘I think it’ll help kids be more aware they’re not alone in their culture and that they can celebrate it with their peers now knowing that there is way more than meets the eye.’’

Kairuruku Rebecca Muipu said she was looking forward to the future. ‘‘I’m excited to see what happens in the future because this is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see where this takes us to.’’

KENDALL HUTT/STUFF Year 12 student leader Ryan Hulme says Rangitoto wants to ensure Ma¯ ori and Pasifika students’ identities are accepted in the school.