On 17 October, our Māori community at Carmel College held our Tu te Ao dinner for the second year running.

“Tu te Ao” means “standing in the world”, which our Year 13 Carmel students will be doing after graduating.  Our Tu te Ao dinner celebrated our Year 13 Māori students alongside the Level 3 Te Reo class as their journey at Carmel came to an end. 

Riley Redfern-Hardisty, Tū Wahine for 2025, MC’d the night.  She was accompanied by Level 1&2 Te Reo students who all helped the evening run smoothly. 

The evening was full of kai, games and speeches from those in our Māori community.  Games included how well the parents of our graduates knew their children.  Guest speaker, Sophie Farrell, our 2023 Tu Wahine, spoke about her experiences outside Carmel and how she has been able to stay connected with her Māori heritage over the last year.  Former students of Kaipara College who founded the programme Potamoureo, also spoke about the Mahi they have done surrounding their programme to introduce Te Reo into English-based schools.  Here we learnt about how Carmel will be starting this initiative in 2025 and we cannot wait to see how it will evolve over the years.  Our graduation dinner ended with the presentation of tonga where each girl was gifted a pounamu which was blessed by everyone present that evening.

We would like to thank Matua Maurice, who organised this event for the second year.  We would also like to thank all of the students who came and helped with the night along with the whānau who helped cater and took time out of their day to come to our celebration.  The celebration of the Tu te Ao dinner is one of the most memorable celebrations as our Māori community comes together to celebrate and send off our leaving students.  In the coming years, we cannot wait to see how this tradition grows and strengthens the bonds of our community. 

Nā Ella Paku, 2024 Tu Wahine