Week 2 Term 4 -Totara House: Review of Term 3 + Plan for Term 4 (October 25 - 28)

Term 3 Overview

Term 3 was another full on, challenging, exciting and rewarding 10 weeks for Totara House. Our main goals for Term 3 was to: 

• Maintain our standard for our House Assemblies - we wanted to ensure that we set the tone and expectation at our House Assemblies for Term 3. We meet every Friday with the House (mentor teachers and students) - this time that we have together is important and we wanted to make sure that we were always prepared and ready for our assemblies. 
• Get involved - The Term 3 calendar is packed - from Derived Grade Exams (for our senior students), to Tongan Language Week, Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week, Sports etc. We wanted to make that Totara House was represented in every school wide activity and event. 
• Explore our House values - Our House values are Family, Respect and Resilience. We wanted to explore these values (during our House Assemblies) and also through the different school activities. I wanted the students experience these values in meaningful and exciting ways. 

Totara House Assembly Term 3

We were excited to meet our goals in Term 3 and none of this would have been possible if it was not for the people. A popular Maori proverb 'he waka eke noa' which loosely translates into 'we are all in this together' is something that I believe Totara House collectively pursued in Term 3. From our House meetings, to the various school events to the everyday things that we dealt with at school - it was a collective effort from everyone in the House. I am incredibly grateful to the mentorship team (Mr Gutry, Mr Niko, Ms Paketama, Mrs Rani, Mrs Tuitupou, Mr Koch, Ms Ferguson, Mr Booker, Mr Daniels, Mr Singh, Mr Milford and Ms Kolo) for their commitment and leadership to all of the students in Totara House. The Student Leadership team (Siale Pulupaki, Miracle Heta, Lisia Pauu, Maletina Niko, David Betham, Falakika Tuakivakatau and Lakai Vaisima) for their energy and commitment in how they led all of the students in every event during Term 3, I am humbled and very thankful for what they brought to the table. Finally, all of the students in Totara House, I am grateful for and for what they all contributed to the House in Term 3. 

I want to reflect on some of the highlights for Totara House in Term 3.  

Tongan Language Week 2022 (Term 3 - Week 6)

Tongan Language Week took place in Week 6 of Term 3. Different events were organized that involved students taking part in whether it was for online quizzes, to singing Tongan songs, playing Tongan games and participating in a whole house Tongan dance. The student leadership team decided that they wanted to get as many students involved in all of the activities. Prior to TLW, the student leaders were strategic in how they got the students involved. During the House assemblies leading up to TLW, the student leaders spoke about the event and encouraged the students to get involved. They also wanted to make sure that they were across the event, that they were fronting it so that they students could see it and follow through. A highlight from Tongan Language Week was students performing the Lakalaka for the Inter House Tongan Dance Competition. Initially we were going to do a Ta'olunga as we were not sure if any students wanted to perform. We prepared for a Ta'olunga which is performed by a small group of females. However we discovered that both our boys and girls wanted to take part - so we decided to do the Lakalaka (group dance). One of our Year 13 students offered to choreograph the item and teach both sets for the girls and boys. Rehearsals took place at lunchtime and afterschool. The students committed to all of the rehearsals and through this, worked together as a family (one of our House values). The students were really excited to perform and were even more excited to have perform in front of their friends and families at the competition. They placed first and were over the moon! 

Totara House Tongan Language Week 2022 Term 3

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2022 (Week 8 - Term 3) 

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week took place in Week 8 of Term 3. This week was highlight not just for our House but for all the other Houses. The students spent the week preparing, learning and rehearsing the Tamaki College School Haka - to share and perform at the Inter House Haka Competition. We thoroughly enjoyed the preparation in learning the haka as it was something special and personal to us. Our Totara House Captain, Siale Pulupaki led the charge for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language week and spent lunchtime and after school preparing the students for the haka. Our House values of family and respect come to mind when I think of Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week. Many of the students who participated in this event were not Maori and so we spent time throughout the week talking about the significance and beauty of the haka and how it is our job to learn, honor and respect this tradition. Coming together, as a team and family, to learn something new helped to enforce the value of family - again, the students enjoy working together and this is something that we really enjoyed in Term 3. The students placed 2nd overall - but placings aside, they were excited to come together and really perform with heart and passion. 

Totara House Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2022 Term 3

Plan for Term 4

The plan for this term is to FINISH WELL and FINISH STRONG. For our Junior and Senior students, the focus is to finish the academic year well - completing internal assessments and preparing for the external assessments (which will take place in Week 5). We will be having our final House assembly at the end of Week 3 and I look forward to honoring our Student Leaders and Year 13 students. I hope to use our final assembly to celebrate and acknowledge our Year 13 students as this is the final term before they finish college. I also look forward to honoring and celebrating our Year 12 students - in particular those who have earned leadership roles for Totara House 2023. We have had an awesome year so far, but as I say - it is not how you start but how you finish that is important. So I am hoping for a strong finish for our House - a finish where we are able to close the loop on everything that we need to do for our learning.