Our school song and haka

Some other schools have their own personal Haka and so we wanted to make one specific for Waitakere College. The head of Māori was Anaru Keogh who developed our school song.
A few years ago the waiata was turned into a haka by Whaea Pearl and our youth worker Joey. Our Haka is 3 years old and the juniors back then who are year 12’s and 13’s now were the first ones to learn it. Joey told us they decided to do a Haka because it was a good idea and we wanted to make our school reflect the cultures in the school.

It was a thing of pride for the school and a way to connect with our country. Some of our students come down from Northland and they might not be used to our ways, so we created this Haka for them to feel at home and to give them something they can relate to.

It was a New Zealand thing to do because if you look at the New Zealand sports teams e.g. All Blacks, Kiwis, NZ Sevens they always perform their own Haka at the beginning of games or at the end of a final. So we wanted to relate to it but we don’t always perform it at a game. We mostly perform at a welcome or at school competitions. Our school Haka is precious to this school and will be for many years to come!!

Waitakere College Haka

*Kia whakataa hoki au I ahau
@Hii aue Hii
*Anei Waitakere nga taonga piripono
@O nga tipuna e
Ko Te Aroha @Hii!!!!
Ko Maatauranga @Haa!!
@Kia kaha e
*Kia Manawanui Hei!!!
Hii aue Hii Hei!! Aue Ha!!

Tiegan and Damon