Haka Waiata

Haka Waiata has been celebrated in Tamaki Intermediate for years! We have come together as houses and represented ourselves through song and dance. Magnificently, all the 2012 students competed in our first but final Haka Waiata ever.

Saturday 27th October 2012, excited children were getting ready, ready to perform our little hearts out. All across the school red, blue, green and yellow clad kids went into their designated costume areas, sweating from the days worth of sports. In Hard Materials, Calliope and Leander got ready for a performance of a lifetime. In the Food Tech room, Achilles got ready and next door in Room 14, Orpheus got ready.

Slowly as time dribbled by, everyone took their seats in the hall. Every person in the hall exuded enthusiasm and very slowly everyone was cloaked in silence.

Miss Waetford off this momentous occasion introducing the school and houses. Then our head girl Irasa got up and said the awesomest ending karakia! Finally Miss Waetford gladly introduced the first contestant, Calliope!

Calliope's performance was stupefying. With the girls and boys dances taking away our breaths and their Latin dance was simply awe inspiring. And to top it off Tatiana did the most astonishing solo dance.

Next to perform was Orpheus. And even with just one girl there, Sharon and her boys done magnificently. Sharon showed fierce determination when performing the girls and solo by herself then also doing the mixed. but luckily the Achilles girls got up and supported their friend.

After this was Leander. It was terrifying getting up and doing a karanga. But after things started to heat up we all got into th move of things. Backstage everyone was frantic, there were clothes and jewelery going everywhere but when we got back on stage we were stars.

Last to perform was Achilles. Their items were amazing. Everyone was smiling except of course in the haka. Tamika's solo was breathtaking and the boys were awesome. The girls danced and smiled their way into our hearts and stayed with us throughout the whole performance.

After all the acts were over and finished Miss Waetford excused the judges to collaborate and decide who our grand winner would be.

The judges came back in and everyone sat up in anticipation. There were many prizes to be given and every house got at least one. But finally the Haka Waiata winners are... Calliope! Every house clapped in appreciation and Calliope stood up screaming and shouting.

At the end of the evening when everyone was heading home, every Tamaki Intermediate student held their heads high and walked out the gate laughing, joking and smiling.

This Year

As the 2011 end of year holidays came to an end, I very excitedly prepared for the coming year of school.

When I came to school on the first day at the beginning of the year I was ecstatic. I rushed to my friends and gave them massive hugs. We hurriedly told each other what we got up to in the holidays before the bell rang. We rushed to the hall to have an assembly.

As we settled into our seats Miss Waetford talked to us. She gave us the usual talk and checked for broken body limbs then we were put into our classes.

I was put in Room 12. I was so happy to be in Room 12 because it is the extension class. And to make it better we were given two teachers per class. I was lucky enough to get Mrs Raj and Mrs Parker-Tofa! They are the best teachers in the school.

As the first term drew on, we did the usual tests and assessments. Then we started in our Swimming. The lessons were great, Miss Curran was a brilliant swimming instructor and she helped us to learn new and different techniques. Then to reward us for our brilliant efforts we had a swimming carnival. It was fabulous to compete in races, and we also got a free time.

Something else that was awesome was our school sleepover. We got to cook our own dinner and we also watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I had a lot of fun and everyone got closer as a school and as friends.

Term two was a blast! The best thing that I remember was the the DARE Programme. We all learnt ways to keep ourselves safe from Drugs and Alcohol. But in doing so we also had a lot of intriguing fun!

In Term three we did an amazing amount of fun things. But one thing that really caught my attention was our Olympics. Not only did we have an Opening Ceremony but we also had games. Over a series of weeks we got to compete and win our countries medals. Then at the end your class got to have the whole amount. Room 12 ended up with the most medals, ten in all.

Something we all had a lot of fun at was our Wellington trip. We all fundraised as classes to go to our capital city for a week. It was awesome to go and a lot of us had our first experience on a plane. We visited many places including Parliament, Te Papa and the Weta Cave.

And finally this term, it has only just started but we have already had fun. A lot of our tests have started happening. But we got to participate in Haka Waiata. It was fun. All of our families came and for the afternoon we played sports games and Ziggy Marley. Calliope gladly won Haka Waiata but we all learnt that Leander is the best.

This year I had lots of fun. But to make things sad it is our last year. We are a legacy now that Tamaki Intermediate is closing. We have all had fun and now that school is nearly to an end we are all closer than family.