Whānau Day - Puanga

Today we enjoyed learning in different spaces, with different kids and with different teachers! We started the day saying karakia together as a school and then split up into our whānau groups to learn all about Puanga.

Puanga is a star that rises when winter is coming and signals that the Māori New Year is near. There are lots of different ways to celebrate Puanga such as reflecting on the past year, thinking about what we are grateful for and traditionally, harvesting crops.
Matariki is the cluster of stars and is when we celebrate the New Year. We plant new crops and make new plans/goals/wishes for the new year.
So in a nutshell, Puanga farewells the year and Matariki welcomes the New Year.

Many kids practised their character strengths today. Leadership and communication skills were seen across the school, right from Autahi kids all the way up to the Seniors. It was a great day to develop Positive Relationships with some new, different people and reinforce old friendships.