Kia Hiwa Ra - a moving production!

This term Makaraka School staff and students embarked on a big project!  A whole school production! The story was about Cook's first navigation to New Zealand and retracing his first steps. 

Students were involved every step of the way from writing the script to making props and costumes and choreographing the moves to dances! 

Each class had a scene to work on which was a different local story:

Year 1/2 portrayed Maui's Fish - the fishing of the North Island

Year 3/4 portrayed Paoa and Kiwa - the establishment of Turanganui a Kiwa

Year 4/5 portrayed Paikea's arrival in Whangara

Year 5/6 portrayed Kupe and the naming of Aoteaoa

The little 5 year olds were the time travel portal which Captain Cook and his crew travelled through and portrayed the Great Pacific Garbage patch through oil, plastic, sea creatures and water. 

Each class also had an added project to contribute to their scene by incorporating plastic props!  This symbolised the presence of plastic in our lives and highlighted the need to be responsible about the use of it!  The plastic props were all lit with LED lights which made them look fabulous! 

Everyone who came enjoyed the production and we even got a letter to the editor!

Here is the whole video! 

Aurora Drama Programme Final Play

The Aurora Education Trust is an organisation that provides learning experiences to students who have talents in certain areas.  This year one of the projects was a Drama project that involved 7 days of researching, writing and performing a script about the first encounters in Turanganui. 22 students from 12 schools participated and did a great job working with each other and learning a lot about our history. 

Community leaders were involved and came in to talk, teach and work with the students around this topic.  

• Chris Green worked with us for 2 session on Drama techniques.
• Todd Sheridan worked with us on the first landing at Turanganui and the tragedy of those that were killed. 
• Kata Ngata worked with us on the story of Tupaia. 
• Albie Gibson from Turanganui Ararau provided cultural advice on the script. 

Here is the programme:

Link to the Herald Article