Matua Dean’s Shout Out

Kia ora e te whānau

Term 3 is rapidly drawing to a close; it has been a busy and productive term, just one more week until the holidays.

I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the students who participated in the AIMS Games last week. We received nothing but positive feedback about the way our students conducted themselves on and off the field. As a school, we are very proud of you all.

We wouldn’t have been able to field more than 80 students competing in more than a dozen different sports if it wasn’t for all the adults who supported them. Thanks to all the coaches and parent helpers who gave up their time to work with students leading up to AIMS. Thanks to those who provided transport for students to and from their games. Thanks to those who took time to travel to Tauranga and cheer and support our students. We appreciate you all.

Last week, Mokoia hosted over 300 Year 6 students as part of our school’s Open Days. The Utuhina technology teachers worked extremely hard to showcase the amazing learning opportunities that our school can provide. We also had an awesome team of student helpers, who acted as mentors and role models for our visitors. It is always great to see our students display their leadership qualities. We will formally acknowledge this group at next week’s assembly.

Today we held our school speech finals. The standard of speeches was the best I have seen in 30 years of teaching. Our guest judges, Te Ao Prangnell and Tāmati Coffey, were thoroughly impressed with the overall calibre of speeches.

Our finalists were:

Year 7:

Frida Hamilton (1st), Paige Coxhead (2nd) and Karly Hunt (3rd)

Ben Bridson (1st Te Reo Māori)

Year 8:

Olivia Filipo (1st), Laurel Papps (2nd), Andrew Lee (3rd) and Roxanne Cocker (4th)

Te Haeata o te Rangi May (1st Te Reo Māori)

We acknowledge those who competed today, as well as the many other students who participated in the learning centre competitions. I would like to give a special thanks to Abbey Garden, who did an amazing job as the MC. I’d also like to recognise the achievements of Sam Jensen, Sam is a finalist in the Great Talk National Speech Competition. He is one of only four Yr7-8 students from across the country to make the finals.

Lastly, a huge shout-out to our amazing staff who work hard to provide students with as many opportunities as possible.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou.

Matua Dean and the Mokoia ‘A’ Team

We are limitless! We are passionate! We are Mokoia!