On Wednesday, 26 June Rutherford hosted the first KI-O-RAHI primary school’s tournament. The initial aim of this project was to provide an opportunity for Play.Sport Schools to introduce or develop their knowledge of Maori games and in particular Ki o Rahi. Utilising this as a vehicle for community connection in Te Atatu CoL.

Rutherford College, Mahi-a-toi were identified as the key group to develop and deliver the programme to CoL schools. It was decided that the students would deliver two, one-hour workshops to 100 year six students at each school across two consecutive weeks followed by a one-day tournament hosted at Rutherford College. This event will allow two teams of fourteen players from each CoL primary school to compete.

Mahi-a-toi were timetabled to go into the schools at times that were least disruptive to their curriculum learning. These days and times were sent through to schools to confirm along with instructions on what to prepare and expect at workshops.

Ki o Rahi Tamaki Makaurau (KORTM) were consulted to ensure consistency across the region as the recognised advisory board. They also provided three, one-hour PD workshops to the Mahi-a-toi students to ensure confidence and consistency in delivery. KORTM also confirmed the NCEA credits that could be linked to this piece of work. Matua Jeff confirmed he would like to secure this project in the curriculum to allow an annual event to be embedded in Te Atatu CoL.

Successful allocation of KiwiSport funding allowed for the supply of a complete Ki o Rahi set, Rippa bands and tags, and additional balls to be given to each of the seven primary schools. This equipment was used in workshops and then utilised to set up seven playing fields at Rutherford College for the tournament event. The tournament was formatted to have all teams play 7 games, it was opened and closed by Mahi-a-toi students with Whakatau in line with traditional Maori protocol.

The event itself was incredible, the students of Mahi-a-toi were perfect ambassadors for Rutherford College and the Mahi-a-toi academy. They conducted themselves professionally and were confident in their delivery of Ki o Rahi to our CoL schools. The schools commented on how well the sessions ran in their schools as well as how well the tournament was delivered by the students. One teacher said, “It’s so nice to come to this event and watch my students develop under the guidance of Rutherford College students, I haven’t needed to coach or manage the team as everything has run so smoothly thanks to Rutherford College.”

Following on from this, Sport Waitakere are conducting surveys with students and staff to provide constructive feedback to help inform any changes to the model for next year. It is hoped this will be an annual event in alignment with Matariki.