Ki o Rahi Nationals

Ruataniwha ventured to Te Papaioea to compete in this year's Secondary School National Kī o rahi Competition, with one goal in mind and that was for Ruataniwha to be remembered and acknowledged by teams from all over the country.

Day 1 of the competition was pool play, Ruataniwha played three games against TKKM O Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretauga, Rotorua Boys/Girls and TKKM o Kaikohe, we finished the day with three wins and this put us at 4th overall after day one. Day 2 was finals day and with winning our first game of the day against Tai Wananga Tū Toa we were into the Quarter Finals. This was a tough fought game and unfortunately, we came away with a loss against last year's champions Gisborne Boys/Girls. Going into our last game we wanted to make sure we ended our competition on a high and that's exactly what we did. We ended our national campaign with five wins out of six games and placed 5th overall out of 36 teams from all over Aotearoa.

We also want to give a huge congratulations to five of our players who have been selected in various Kī o rahi Representative teams to play at Taumata Kī o rahi Nationals this year on Labour weekend in Rotorua.

Manaro Davoren - Aotearoa Māori Kī o rahi

Talia TeAtua Pere - Aotearoa Māori Kī o rahi

Murdoch Beckett - New Zealand Invitational Kī o rahi

Melia Nielsen - New Zealand Invitational Kī o rahi

Pirinitete Maraki-Pene - Pasifika Invitational Kī o rahi

Altogether Better Award

A competition, sponsored by Bayleys Real Estate, focusing on recognising participants whose teams exemplified being #altogetherbetter. Whether it was unbeatable teamwork, unbreakable spirit, or an unrelenting drive to succeed, we were looking for examples of how teams stood out from the rest. Teams that embodied the spirit of unity, teamwork, and dedication.

Ruataniwha, Central Hawkes Bay College was presented this award.

Following is the team’s nomination

Ruataniwha ki runga, Rangitāne ki te whenua!! 

Hailing from Central Hawkes Bay College. They are a range of rangatahi of juniors and seniors.

In every challenge they face, they rise — not as individuals, but as one, as a whānau, united by purpose and driven by heart. Ruataniwha is more than a name; it’s a spirit. A spirit that never backs down, that lifts each other up, that pushes forward even when the odds are stacked high.

Greatness isn’t about never falling — it’s about getting back up, again and again, stronger each time. That’s who they are.

Ruataniwha stand out, because they are more than school friends, they are brothers and sisters, they are whānau! And look after each other on and off the field.

Ruataniwha hī!

Ruataniwha hā!

Ruataniwha whītiki tauā! 

#altogetherbetter 

The prize was $200 in fuel vouchers to help pay for the teams travel costs, thanks to Bayleys Real Estate.

Congratulations and thank you for the hard work and dedication to the team’s managers and coaches,  Te Puawaiora Nepe Apatu, Hogan Hynes, Paulie Sciascia and Mahinarangi Auckram.

Drama

NYDS: The school had five students attend the National Youth Drama School in Havelock North over the holidays. They had a full on week learning all about different areas of dramatic production from lighting and sound tech to stage combat and acting for film. By all accounts it was a very enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Year 11 Production: With their class production rapidly approaching Year 11 Drama students have been spending their Wednesday evenings rehearsing throughout Term 1. Over the holidays, however, they stepped up and came into school to rehearse on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. 

Their hard work will be rewarded on the 5^th and 6^th of May when they get the chance to perform 'Sweet As', a show about the collision of two opposite worlds; the world of passionately baking sweet treats and the often destructive world of online extremism and conspiracy theories to an audience of friends, family and teachers.

DoE Expeditions

As the first week of the holidays rolled around, five of our school Silver students and four of our Gold students joined others from HNHS and embarked upon a four-day tramp within the immersive Ruahine Ranges. Although our original plan had been modified due to the extremely wet weather conditions, we were still able to fulfil our experience by participating in a range of new challenges and tasks such as lighting a campfire in the rain, crossing both an invisible and a real river using our river safety knowledge and working together to cross as a team. We were educated on bush tucker- what is okay to eat and what is not okay to eat and we also assisted in maintaining the Waipawa Forks track by clearing the entrance to ensure that others who are visiting can spot the signs as well as having the hands on experience of checking in on and adding fresh bait to pest traps along the trail. A personal highlight for me was when I extracted a crushed, deceased rat out of one of the traps that we discovered.

Throughout this journey we challenged ourselves and developed our bushcraft skills, exploring a variety of different paces and encouraging one another as we took it in turns to lead the group through the various areas of our walk. We experienced multiple sorts of terrain- steep, windy uphill, bumpy, cascading downhill and everything in between, meaning that we had to navigate foot placement, laughing with each other as we slipped and stumbled. Plenty of our downtime was spent collecting shed loads of firewood- quite literally, to fill the woodsheds at the hut. Some valuable lessons which I guarantee we will certainly never overlook are to pull your fly as far away from your tent as possible and to always have a decent raincoat within arm's reach! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and I am beyond grateful for the skills that I have employed and the connections with others that I have made or strengthened. I would like to thank Graham and Jeroem, our brilliant shadows that mentored us in the most enthusiastic and engaging way possible- they were great sports and kept the mood positive and humorous throughout. I would also like to thank Afoot for providing this journey opportunity along with Mrs Southward who contributed behind the scenes to make this possible for us.

By Alice Jamieson, Year 12 Gold DOE Student.

Silver Students Involved- Sophia Coddington, Euan Cruise, Moses Dingle, Bree Franklin, Isla Gregory.

Gold Students Involved- Aaron Benson, Alice Jamieson, Callum Setter, Michaela Waite.

Youth Parliament

I was selected as the Wairarapa, Tararua, and Central Hawke’s Bay Youth Member of Parliament, under the Wairarapa MP Mike Butterick. After many interviews, challenges, and several candidates I was privileged enough to be appointed to the position and my four month term started on Monday the 28^th of April ending on the 28^th of August 2025. For the next four months I get to talk to and engage with youth, listening and talking to them about what they feel are issues in their community, as well as my own knowledge and learning, which I then take to parliament for three days of debating 31 June – 2 July. This is an incredible opportunity that takes place every three years, where one youth from each electorate, as well as the list MPs, are selected around the country, this year there are 138 youth MPs. 

Year 13 Student Neeve Smith

Get in contact with Neeve at WaiYouthMP@parliament.govt.nz

Article added: Wednesday 30 April 2025