The Pīpīwharauroa Festival hosted by Rangitoto College saw more than 5,000 rangatahi engage in classroom learning over a nine-week period.
The festival, in its second year, is the culmination of curriculum work throughout all of the Mid-Bays Kāhui Ako schools, across a myriad of subject areas: art, science, commerce, social science, food technology, languages and Te Manu Taki.
Named after the Shining Cuckoo, the festival marks a nine-week learning journey. Students were able to engage in kapahaka and mātauranga Māori workshops.
“The main focus of this event is to revive the hearts and minds of the people in this community and region,” says Rangitoto College te reo teacher Sarah Galbraith.
Rangitoto College on Auckland’s North Shore is the largest school in the country, with a roll of 3,500 students. Only 237 of those students are Māori (6.8%) and 1.3% are Pasifika. The majority are Pākehā and Asian.
Reo Māori teachers such as Galbraith and Ke’ain Peters at the school are working hard to normalise the use of te reo through everyday use and events like the Pīpīwharauroa Festival.
