From June 10-14, the school held its inaugural Cultural and Languages Week.
The event was created by the school’s Mana Prefects, a new position created within the school leadership team with the job to promote a supportive and inclusive school environment.
During the week, pupils were encouraged to embrace diversity and share knowledge to feel connected and respectful of differences through stories, music, food and traditions.
Highlights from the week included the opening ceremony assembly where pupils heard from Maturo Siaosi from Multicultural Aoraki.
He shared his message about the importance of knowing who you are and valuing your culture.
The class for speakers of languages other than English then performed a traditional Filipino dance for pupils.
The countries were chosen from the different nationalities present at the school.
Each day, over the morning speaker, there was a word of the day and the school value of respect was shared in a different language. Pupils guessed the language of the day to go in the draw for a prize.
Other experiences included, origami classes, video game Just Dance, karaoke, ki o rahi, spelling challenges, placing a pin on a world map to show your country of origin, a scavenger hunt and a mufti day where pupils were encouraged to dress in their traditional clothing or colours.
To conclude the week, a food festival was held where pupils could sample foods from different countries.
Waimate High School teacher Ashleigh Nicolson said the event was very successful.
The week drove the message throughout the school that diversity is not a barrier and gave inspiration and understanding of the rich diversity of the students within our school ... We cannot wait to see how this event grows and changes from year to year."
By Connor Haley
