Lytton High School hosts kura from across the rohe for two days of competition to find best orator, kapa haka

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui, Campion College and Lytton High School students welcomed other kura to Lytton for the Ngā Manu Kōrero and kapa haka festival last week. Picture by Brennan Thomas, Strike Photography

Kōrero and haka from rangatahi were centre stage at this year’s Ngā Manu Kōrero and Kapa Haka festival hosted by Lytton High School.

This was the 58th year of the annual event which sees rangatahi from different kura across Tairāwhiti compete to be the best orator in either te reo Māori or English.

Lytton High School principal Wiremu Elliot said it was a genuine pleasure for the school to host the 2023 festival.

The event is organised under the Tairāwhiti Māori Teachers Association, an umbrella organisation for 14 schools and kura with secondary age pupils.

It began last Thursday with a pōhiri at Lytton High School.

The local people, Te Whānau a Iwi, guided Lytton High School through the process which included Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui and Campion College alongside Lytton students welcoming the other kura from as far away as Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kawakawa-Mai-Tawhiti at Hicks Bay.

“Thursday was a celebration of speech -making in English and in te reo Māori,” Mr Elliot said.

Selected tō represent the Tairāwhiti region at the 2023 National Ngā Manu Kōrero competition in term three in Dunedin were —

Tūreia Gilbert of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hawaiki Hou in Tā Turi Kara Junior English; Te Maumahara Hape of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui in Te Rāwhiti Ihaka Junior Māori; Maikel Terekia of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Horouta Wānanga in Korimako Senior English; and Niki-Maire Pēwhairangi of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu in Pei Te Hurinui Jones Senior Māori.

On Friday to round out the two-day event, eight kapa haka groups performed, including one from Campion College, which has not entered a team in a long time.

Tū Ki Uta and Tūranga Wāhine Tūranga Tāne were selected as the two teams to represent the region at the national secondary schools biennial competition in 2024.