New School Song:
We Have (Another) New School Song:
Our Vision talks about
Our Children Our Land For Our Future
Ā Tatou Tamariki Ō Tatou Whenua Ka Ora Te Apōpō
Our goal is to teach our children to be kind and to be guardians - Kaitiaki - of our people and our land for our future. Now we have a song to help us remember the importance of being guardians. It is called Kaitiaki Ahau - We Are Guardians.
I wrote the lyrics which Matua Aaron then modified a little and put to a tune - that's the really challenging part - and so we have a new school song.
The lyrics are as follows:
Maunga tall, and awa deep, Mountain tall and river deep
Kaitiaki - our whenua keep. Guardians - our land keep.
Whānau care, hearts of song,
Guide us and keep us strong.
Ā tātou tamariki
Ō tātou whenua
Ka ora te āpōpō
Kaitiaki Tātau ēnei taonga We are guardians of our treasures
For the future we will weave,
With our values we believe.
Shaping Vision of Western Heights,
Kaitiaki Tātau
Guide us and keep us strong.
Ā tātou tamariki
Ō tātou whenua
Ka ora te āpōpō
Kaitiaki Tātau ēnei taonga
Kaitiaki of all that's to be,
Guardians of the land and sea.
Living Hope in every way
Helping One Person Every Day
Ā tātou tamariki
Ō tātou whenua
Ka ora te āpōpō
Kaitiaki Tātau ēnei taonga
Ēnei taonga
The video of this can be found on our YouTube Channel here -
Whaea Isla also wrote original music to accompany these lyrics and then produced a beautiful polished finished product that is quite stunning and very different in style from Matua Aaron's version.
We have yet to work this into a multi-media piece, but it shows the depth of creativity and talent we have on our staff.