Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Principal Ros McQuillan-Mains said about 400 people, including parents, attended the Maori New Year celebration at the Dunedin school.
''It was an absolutely wonderful community event. There was ample kai and we have had a very positive reaction.''
Pupils had been studying the process and significance of the hangi and had been looking forward to the event for a while, she said. A large crowd gathered to watch eight crates of food being dug up from the lawn next to the school's tennis court.
Mrs McQuillan said the school embraced being bicultural and 12 of the pupils spoke Te reo Maori as their first language.
- Robert van Royen.
