Week 2 Term 1 - Totara House - A Year in Review + Goals for 2024 (February 5 - February 9)

Totara House juniors after winning 'Whanau House 2023' in Dec 2023

2023 was an awesome, challenging and rewarding year for Totara House. Our Totara House saw many come and go, but we remained steadfast in our mission to journey well together. Our 2023 Totara House family consisted our amazing mentorship team - Ms Francis Kolo and Mrs Alka Rani (9TKl), Mrs Mariana Ahokovi (10TAo), Mr Fiu Niko (10TNi), Ms Kalesha Paketama (11TPt), Mr Johan Koch (12TKh), Ms Seini Tuitupou (12TTt) and Ms Karen Ferguson (13TFn). Our Totara House Student Leadership team - who led our House for 2023 were Kosini Mapapalangi (House Captain), Danny Sefilino (House Captain), Anika Crichton Ward (House Prefect), Alo-Ki Hingano (House Prefect), Christian Kava (Head Boy 2023), Saimone Misinale (House Prefect) and Mario Vakauta (House Prefect).

2 Timothy 4:7 says “I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance and I have kept the faith.” 2023 was a big year for everyone in our House, both in and outside of school. We all had to overcome our own hurdles and challenges. We all had to step up and face the challenges and persevere through it. We all had to help each other when others were struggling. From the mentorship team to the student leadership team, 2023 was a year where we had to go the full distance and while it was bumpy and there were a few twists and turns, we went the full distance together. Doing our best in the race can be draining when you just want to give up but I am so proud of everyone for pulling through especially when we had to as a House. I am incredibly grateful to the mentorship team for their love, care, support and commitment to their students and for stepping in when I was unable to. I am proud of the leadership team and how they lead the house together with pride and grace. I am humbled and extremely proud of all of the young people in Totara House for trusting my leadership, for always saying ‘yes’ when I called on them. I acknowledge all of our young people who contribute to the life of our house through the different house events. Your hearty Totara pride added so much life and value to our whanau, thank you! 

Totara House 2023

I acknowledge all of our Totara House family members who have moved on - from our Year 13 students (13TFn) to some of our mentorship team who have finished at Tamaki College (Mr Gutry and Ms Paketama). Thank you for your hearts of service and commitment to Totara. I am stoked that we won ‘Whanau House 2023’ as it is a reflection of the commitment and love that we have for our House. As the Whanau Dean, I am incredibly grateful, humbled and proud of the team that I get to work alongside. From the mentors to the student leaders, I am very thankful to work alongside a team who are committed to ensuring that whatever Totara House did was a success.

TOTARA HOUSE: House Values Review 2023: 

In my role as a House Dean, I understand that the spirit and overall dynamic of the house is a reflection on how I lead it. I have taken the same approach from how I lead Totara House in 2021 in that the main driver for the House is our values, things that are important to us and this is the sole focus. This year the House Leaders and I spoke to all of the students during the mentoring sessions (Monday morning) and visited other students during class time, to gauge with them and see what they wanted Totara House to represent. The leaders led the discussion and shared what they wanted the House to represent and the students (for the most part) were interested and engaged because they could relate more to the House Leaders. The focus question this year was the same question that we posed to the students in 2021, which was 'What do you want Totara House to represent?' 

Once the feedback was completed, the leaders and I reviewed the student voice. We looked for common values across each class and then found some common themes that the students shared in the discussion. It did not take long for us to identify the values that the students wanted their House to represent. It was clear throughout the feedback that the common values that were echoed from Year 9 to Year 13 were Integrity, Leadership and Gratitude. So in honoring what was shared from our students, we revealed our 2023 Totara House Values to the students at an assembly in Term 1.

Totara House Y9s and Y12s at STARS Camp 2023

Integrity is defined as "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles." Honesty and integrity are interconnected, so with this we used our House assemblies as an opportunity to talk and discuss what the value means. Our House leaders used Term 2 to talk about their journey at school and to be honest about the challenges that they have faced and what they have learnt from it. This was a powerful way for the student leaders to minister to their house - student to student - so that they can relate and to learn from their peers. I also used the whanau assembly time to address my concerns and to have some frank and honest conversations with the students about some of the issues that we faced as a house. Integrity is something that we journey through, it is something that we learn and grow from. I am really pleased at how we grew through this value as a house.  

Totara House @ Samoan Language Week 2023

Leadership is defined as “Leaders enable the individuals on their team to reach their highest potentials. By being a true leader, you show others that you can inspire and motivate your team for the good of the organization.” The student leadership really wanted to build the leadership within the house. There were a few moments this year where we had students within the house lead in our whanau assemblies to the house events. Our Year 12 students helped to teach the Athletics Day chant, to our senior Year 12 students leading Samoan Language Week to our Year 10 students leading the inter house Basketball competition. Growing the leadership within the house has always been a big focus for Totara House and I am so pleased that we were able to do that in 2023.  

Totara House @ Athletics Day 2023

Gratitude is defined as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Being grateful and carrying a posture of gratitude is something that is needed and important. Gratitude can help shift your lens and perspective, in a way where you are not dwelling on what is not working but grateful for what is. The leadership team shared their journey with the students throughout the year and shared what they are grateful for. It was humbling to hear from the young people what they are thankful for. I am grateful for the successes that we have experienced together as House from winning the House Chant for Athletics Day 2023, winning the Samoan Language Week House Dance competition to winning the overall Whanau House for 2023. We celebrate and we are grateful for our successes that we have been blessed with.

TOTARA HOUSE: Goals for 2024

We were unable to explore our goals for 2024 at the end of last year, but I am looking forward to spending the first few weeks of Term 1 going through this with the team. It is important for us to discuss our goals and what our ‘finish line’ is for 2024, so that we can understand and know what we are working towards. I have outlined some goals below - things that we can focus on and work on throughout the year. This will be discussed with the team as we get into Term 1.

Totara House @ Inter House Soccer Competition 2023

• New House Values 2024 - I hope to work with our new leadership for 2024 and to see what they think our House Values should be. It would be a good idea to also collaborate with our student body to get their input as it is something that we have done over the last two years. 

• Participation - Continue to encourage our students to participate in the House events and activities. There is something special when we come together and I would like to continue this with our students

• Monitor student achievement/progress - I would like to see our mentorship team and academic mentor work together to track and support our students (across year 9 to year 13) with their learning and achievement. That is our core job and I would like to see our students feel confident in where they are and where they want to go academically. 

• Student Leadership - The mentorship team discussed how we can utilize our student leadership more effectively and efficiently in our house, we have an idea on what we want to do and I hope that we can help drive this with our leadership team.

I am looking forward to working the new student leadership team for 2024, our mentorship team and the students of Totara House 2024!