Tēnā koutou katoa

This year marked the 49th anniversary of Polyfest and it was one of the biggest to date. Over four days last week (20th -23rd March) 59 groups took to the Māori stage to compete over three divisions and Te Kapa Haka o Waitākere College, Ngā Pae Maunga o Waitākere hit the stage in Division 2 on Friday.

Our Polyfest campaign began in week three of this term.

7 new items, a new 30-minute bracket, 5 weeks and over 40 students to tackle this competition. With the biggest turnout in the number of members in over a decade for our school, Ngā Pae Maunga o Waitākere worked tirelessly over the five weeks amassing over 100+ hours of training time crammed into an already busy first term.

After five intense weeks of training, challenging new choreography and two back-to-back weekend-long wānanga, Ngā Pae Maunga o Waitākere stormed the stage. In front of a packed crowd at the Velodrome in Manukau, the group performed a bracket that explored themes like Te Hītori o Waitākere, Te Mana o te Wāhine and Te Tino Rangatiratanga. This gave the judges a new insight into our group and their growth and the competitive era we are currently entering. The blood, sweat and tears paid off and the group was rewarded with 6th place overall in Division 2. This was a huge jump from last year and as a roopu we were elated to see that the hard work had paid off.

We would like to acknowledge Whaea Pearl and the Māori department, our school staff and the wider community of our school for their support of this campaign. We take honour in representing Waitākere College and we are grateful for all the help we receive to get our group to the stage.

Ngā mihi!