‘Toa Niue Ma Anoiha’ to set flight on first cultural trip to NZ
Toa Niue Ma Anoiha - Niue Warriors for the Future group during the cultural concert in previous week, Paliati hall | Photo credits: Carol Edwards/Facebook
Niue Primary School’s Year 5 and 6 students of the ‘Toa Niue Ma Anoiha – Niue Warriors for the Future’ group are soon to set flight to New Zealand this Friday.
The students and teachers over the past year have been readily preparing for this trip which Primary School Principal Carol Edwards says is a cultural exchange tour with schools overseas.
The group is also looking to perform at the ASB Polyfest for the closing day.
Principal Edwards says the tour group will consist of 49 members including 38 students, 7 teachers and 4 committee members.
24 parents are also set to join the trip next week.
Principal Edwards says that 21 students will not be going on this tour.
She adds that the tour is the first they will ever do abroad and the main goal is have the students share their cultural knowledge with family and friends overseas as there is a big emphasis on Vagahau Niue abroad.
“Last year, we decided that instead of having our normal camp every year for our Year 5 and 6s, that we would try a cultural exchange overseas so that we can share our cultural knowledge with our families and friends overseas and we know that there is a big push for Vagahau Niue overseas.”
“We had to first get the parents on board. Last year a meeting was called for our parents and we had to see the level of commitment before we actually committed to doing a group like this to go.”
The group is set to visit two schools which are Rowandale Primary School and Favona Primary School. Both schools have bilingual units for Vagahau Niue and English, says Principal Edwards.
She also spoke about the cultural concert that was held at the Paliati hall in the previous week, where the students showcased their items and songs that they have been rehearsing for over the past months.
“The concert was to give back to the community, to show the community, show our parents what exactly we had been doing because the kids have been staying here after school and they have been practising really hard. It was a successful night.”
Principal Edwards also revealed their fundraising drive has been a success and the enthusiasm on camp amongst the students has been very high as they look forward to this exciting cultural exchange trip.
Some of the parents and students have already arrived early to New Zealand before the majority of the group is set to fly out this Friday.
The whole group will spend two weeks overseas before returning home.
