The Great Inaugural Matariki Kite Competition was held today as part of our school’s Matariki celebrations. About fifty students and staff braved uncharacteristically sunny and windless conditions on the field to get their kites airborne. Kites were constructed over the last week in rōpū time using a variety of materials. Kites were traditionally flown at the start of the Māori new year as an important symbolic link between sky and earth as Matariki appeared in the mid-winter night sky. Trudy Harvey, Classics teacher and chief organizer of the Matariki festivities at WHS had this to say; “t’s cool to mark the Māori new year in this way as a school.”
Wellington High juniors were the big stars on the field with Jemma Jeong taking out the “Traditional Design” category, Honey Brown taking out overall “Aesthetics. Year 9s Joshua Watkins took the “Innovation” category with his Taniwha design and Henry Wagstaff completely dominated the “Aerodynamics” category.
