Ngā Manu Kōrero

On September 11, our very own Year 10 Te Puna o Wairaka student, Katie Watkinson, represented MAGS for the second year in a row at the national Ngā Manu Kōrero speech competition held at Te Tōangaroa / Spark Arena.
Katie had created her own topic, Empowering Future Generations, which she used to speak about the importance of having a vision, pursuing education to the highest standard, and the utmost importance of unity.
Competing in the Sir Turi Carroll – Junior English section against 14 other students from across the country, she definitely went up against some wonderful orators, however, in the end, she placed 2^nd equal overall, as well as winning 1^st equal for Best Female Speaker, both alongside Aania Paranihi from Cullinane College (Whanganui/Taranaki region).
HoF Māori Ms Paul said, “We are extremely proud of Katie for her hard work, determination and perseverance this year in preparation for this moment. She represented our school with much mana, poise, passion and humility. As the saying goes, ‘Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao!’ 
You can watch the video of her speech here

Katie Watkinson (pictured right) will be going to Ngā Manu Kōrero nationals after winning her section at the Waitematā regionals last week.
Along with Lily Rupapera, Awanui Hope and Ben Hori-Elliott, she represented MAGS at the Ngā Manu Kōrero ki te Waitematā Regional Speech Competition.
MAGS helped to co-host (Tā Turi Kara – Junior English Stage) once again, alongside Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College), Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kōtuku.
Katie placed 1st in Tā Turi Kara, thus qualifying for the National Ngā Manu Kōrero competition to be held in Ōtepoti (Dunedin) in Week 10 of Term 3.
Awanui placed 3rd overall for the Pei Te Hurinui – Senior Māori section, Ben placed 7th overall in the Korimako – Senior English section, and Lily placed 4th overall in the Rāwhiti Ihaka – Junior Māori section.
HOF Māori Waimirirangi Paul said, “We are extremely proud of our ākongaand look forward to supporting Katie as much as possible in the lead-up to nationals later this year.”

On September 21, Katie gave an outstanding speech as she represented Waitematā at the Ngā Manu Kōrero nationals in Dunedin.
She was competing in the Tā Turi Kara – Junior English category that she won at the Waitematā regionals in June.
In her speech – I am Unapologetically Māori – Katie spoke about the backlash against incorporating te reo into everyday New Zealand life, colonialism, and what it is to be Māori in 2023.
MAGS staff and students from Te Puna, who were at nationals to support Katie, were part of a waiata tautoko, following her speech.

On July 1, MAGS, alongside Massey High School, Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae and Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College), co-hosted the annual Ngā Manu Kōrero ki te Waitematā regional speech competition at Western Springs College.
This event is held over two days with four sections: Tā Turi Kara (Sir Turi Carroll) – Junior English, Rāwhiti Ihaka – Junior Māori, Korimako – Senior English and Pei Te Hurinui – Senior Māori.
The juniors deliver a prepared speech, while the seniors have a prepared speech and an impromptu speech (time limit three minutes) for which they have five minutes to choose a topic and prepare.
This year, MAGS had three representatives: Sasha Tobin (10 PNWAL) in Junior English, Awanui Hope (10 PNWAL) in Junior Māori, and Michaela Minor (13 PNPAL) in Senior English.
HoF Māori Waimirirangi Paul said, “All three speakers presented speeches that were well-written, engaging, thought-provoking and slick in presentation. In the end, we were fortunate to come away from prizegiving with Sasha placing second overall in her section (she was only five points away from placing first and qualifying for nationals). She also won best female speaker.
“Awanui also won best female speaker for her section and placed fifth overall (she was only seven points away from 4th place).
“Lastly, Michaela placed fifth overall (she was only five points away from fourth place) for the prepared speech and she placed third for the impromptu, which is no mean feat.”

MAGS co-hosted the Ngā Manu Kōrero ki te Waitematā Māori speech competition, which was held at Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College) on Friday 11 June.

Our Te Puna o Wairaka students scored some top results at the regional Ngā Manu Kōrero speech competition even though they were up against students from full immersion schools.

Our speakers were:

Isaiah Nin, 12PNPAL (Korimako – Senior English section)
Sasha Tobin, 9PNWAL (Tā Turi Kara – Junior English section)
Awanui Hope, 9PNWAL (Rāwhiti Ihaka – Junior Māori section)

HoD Te Puna O Wairaka Waimirirangi Paul said, “They each stood with such confidence and made our school proud!”

Sasha placed 2nd-equal in her section with a student from Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae. They both also placed 1st-equal for best female speaker in their section.

Isaiah placed 5th overall (for prepared and impromptu speeches combined, despite a five-point time penalty), and Awanui placed 4th, having only missed out on 3rd place by five points, with the top three speakers all from Kura Kaupapa Māori (full immersion schools).

MAGS came back with two third-place trophies from the Ngā Manu Kōrero ki te Waitematā Regional Speech Competition at Ōrākei Marae on June 14.
Jackson Absolum (above right) competed in the Tā Turi Kara (Sir Turi Carroll) Junior English section, Te Waaka Popata-Henare (above centre) in Rāwhiti Ihaka Junior Māori, Richard Mann in Korimako Senior English, and Niua Pomare-Khanna (above left) in Pei Te Hurinui Senior Māori.
MAGS also co-hosted the junior stage, and it was a very successful day with Te Waaka (at left) taking third in Junior Māori and Niua (at right) third in Senior Māori. Jackson was seventh in Junior English, and Richard was ninth in the senior English section.
In Senior Māori, Niua did particularly well, competing against five full-immersion schools.

MAGS students competed strongly across all the categories at the Ngā Manu Kōrero ki te Waitematā regional speech competition.
At the annual regional Māori speech competition held this year at Ngāti Whātua o Ōrakei Marae, students competed in Junior English, Junior Māori, Senior English and Senior Māori.
This year, Charlotte Mann (Year 10), Isaiah Nin (Year 9), Richard Mann (Year 12) and Kaharau Mendes (Year 13) came first in MAGS’ competition so represented the school at the regionals.
In Junior English, Charlotte placed third overall and won best female speaker for her section. In Junior Māori, Isaiah Nin placed ninth overall.
Waimirirangi Paul, HoF Te Puna o Wairaka, said, “This was no mean feat as he went up against students from full-immersion schools who are fluent speakers of te reo.”
In Senior English, Richard placed seventh overall, and this was based on both an impromptu speech and a prepared speech. He improved two placings in comparison to last year.
In Senior Māori, Kaharau placed fourth overall, and this was also based on both an impromptu speech and a prepared speech.
Ms Paul said, “Kaharau’s achievement was of particular significance as he was competing against students from full-immersion schools who are very fluent speakers of te reo Māori and he was only points off third place.”
She added that all the students represented MAGS with pride and determination but it would not have been possible without the support of the school.

Four students represented MAGS at the Auckland finals of the Nga Manu Korero speech competition, held at Orakei marae on June 16.
Year 10 student Niua Pomare-Khanna came 3rd in the Junior Maori Rawhiti Ihaka category with his 12 minute speech on the importance of Maori retaining their language and cultural values. Another Year 10 student, Tayla Bamber, won the Junior English Sir Turi Carroll Award for her five minute speech titled “Education Opens Many Doors”. Tayla’s win qualified her for the National Nga Manu Korero competition in Taranaki in Term 3, where she performed extremely well.
Year 11 student Richard Mann and Year 13 student  Uenuku Malesala also did extremely well in their competitive categories that included speakers from Maori immersion schools.
Head of Te Puna o Wairaka Ms Waimirirangi Paul said the MAGS speakers were outstanding. “They presented compelling prepared and impromptu speeches in te reo Maori and English. They and the students who attended the hui in support were great representatives of the school.”