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Prospectus

Culture, Service and Leadership

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Prospectus

Culture, Service and Leadership

A large number of diverse cultural and creative opportunities are offered at Rangitoto College, enabling students to pursue their interests for personal enrichment.

Listen to our Student Leaders and Tū Rangatira Students.

Service Opportunities

Tū Rangatira

Te Kiko o Rangitoto

Enthusiastic staff members foster student leadership and development through a great variety of cultural activities, actively engaging students in expanding their social and personal cultural awareness and leadership skills.

The Te Reo Māori and Tikanga learning pathways at Rangitoto College focus on building our learners’ confidence, competence and connections. This is seen through our Tū Rangatira programme, through community celebrations, wānanga series, and our ever growing academic pathways – Te Reo, Carving and Te Ao Haka (Māori Performing Arts).

Student led groups and clubs provide rich engagement opportunities to their fellow students. We have over 85 clubs and 35 service opportunities that celebrate international arts events, champion charitable causes and provide avenues for students to explore their passions and foster friendships.

Students serve and make positive contributions that address the needs of their wider community. Needs such as restoring native ecology networks, pest and predator prevention, providing Service to our neighbouring Knightsbridge Retirement Village, recycling chip packets to be manipulated into thermal blankets or support for our wider community through our Community Garden. Students’ efforts are recognised via both the Rangitoto Summit Diploma, Year 11 Diploma and the Student Volunteer Army. In 2024, students provided over 11,000 hours of service to our community

Students are also able to participate in many student leadership opportunities throughout the school. The college has a strong student leadership programme that offers students leadership growth opportunities in many areas of responsibility within our student leadership teams. These teams are led by our Year 13 Student Leaders and are comprised of teams from Year 10 through to Year 12 and lead in areas such as the Arts, Sports, Pastoral Care, Community and Environment and Culture and Globalisation. Specialist Student Leadership teams lead their peers in key cultural areas providing leadership growth and engagement opportunities for our Chinese, Korean, Māori and Pacific Peoples communities.

Te Ahurea Tino Rangatiratanga

The Kapa Haka group train twice a week and enter the prestigious Te Ahurea Tino Rangatiratanga Auckland Competition in Term 4 annually.

Pīpīwharauroa Festival

Our bi-annual Pīpīwharauroa Festival celebrates the migration of the Pīpīwharauroa bird from the Pacific Islands to Aotearoa during spring. The event ia a culmination of our journey in learning mātauranga Māori at school. Our community of Māori and Pacific performers came together to honor mātauranga through the maramataka, celebrating the deep connection between place and people. With diverse food stalls and a rich array of captivating performances, the festival beautifully highlighted the diversity of our school.

ASB Polyfest

We are extremely proud of our students’ contributions to the diversity of Rangitoto College.

Our students’ outstanding performances at the ASB Polyfest are truly memorable.

In recent years, Rangitoto College was represented by our amazing Chinese and Korean cultural teams on the diversity stage. It was an amazing experience with our Chinese Team performing a traditional sleeve dance and our Korean Team a fan dance. The students performed exceptionally well and it was an amazing experience. In 2025 the Chinese cultural team achieved 2 placements on the diversity stage.

Watch our Chinese and Korean cultural teams perform on the diversity stage at the 2024 ASB Polyfest

Chinese dance starts 4:14:18 and ends 4:21:40

Korean dance starts 4:35:40 and ends 4:43:30

Student Testimonials

Leila Davis

Iwi: Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu

Kia ora, ko Leila Davis tōku ingoa. I am a Year 12 rangatahi at Rangitoto College of Māori and European descent. Being at Rangi has presented endless opportunities that make my experience here full of meaning and joy. Whether you’re interested in culture, sports, the arts, or anything in between, I believe there is something for everyone at Rangitoto College.

During my time here, I have found joy being involved with Māori kaupapa. In Year 10, I was given the privilege of being a part of Tū Rangatira. It has enabled me to increase my understanding of tikanga and it has brought forth many experiences that I cherish. Year 10 was also the year that I began to immerse myself in Kapa Haka. Long hours of practice have taught me what dedication is and what it means to take responsibility for your role within a group. Kapa Haka has also allowed me to draw closer to my Māori culture and learn how to tell stories and express different emotions through ways such as voice, actions, movement, and through the use of poi and traditional weaponry such as patu. The climax of our campaign would be to compete at Te Ahurea Tino Rangatira, which is what I hope to continue with this year.

From Year 11, I have involved myself with the Māori Leadership Team. We help with events such as Whānau Hui which are held each term. These Whānau Hui allow us to showcase what we’re doing within our Māori spaces at school with our whānau. Another significant aspect of Tū Rangatira is the Wānanga Series. These are awesome trips to places such as the Navy Marae in Devonport, or just recently, to Rotorua. These trips let us apply the tikanga we learn in tutor class, to real life situations at marae and simply enjoy being Māori. I am grateful for the kaiako that continue to provide my peers and I many opportunities to learn and grow in this space, as they deeply enrich our learning of Te Ao Māori.

Another aspect of kaupapa Māori that I have enjoyed at kura is hākinakina, or sport. In Year 11, I competed alongside some Tū Rangatira students at a Ki-o-rahi tournament, and this year we competed at a Waka Ama regatta. Engaging in Te Ao Māori through sports has been an awesome experience and I hope to continue this in the future. I have also involved myself in other sports such as Netball, Touch Rugby and in my junior years, Cross Country. Sports enable me to be competitive and have fun while getting some exercise done. It also allows me to form lasting connections with those around me. The sport I enjoy playing the most is Touch Rugby. Its fast-paced nature comes with a very thrilling adrenaline rush and I love it!

This year, I have been privileged to be accepted into one of the school’s premier choral groups – Serenata, and I have committed to follow through. Being in choir has enhanced my understanding of how to sing in various languages with accuracy, when to emphasize specific words and vowels, and how to start and finish notes at the same time to create a unified sound just to name a few. I really do love singing and have loved creating beautiful harmonies with the choir and I hope we do well at Big Sing Regionals.

Being at Rangitoto College so far has been a journey full of many challenges but among them, many great and memorable experiences. Th e staff here help students and offer support that allows them to thrive and gain personal excellence. The opportunities here are numerous, and by taking them I can grow and reach my full potential.

Tyler Patuki

Kia Ora, my name is Tyler Patuki. As a Māori and Pasifika Year 11 student at Rangitoto College, I have really enjoyed my time at this school so far and had many great experiences. Being at this school has helped me to deepen my connections with my friends, teachers and even my own culture. This is what made my experience at Rangitoto college truly enjoyable.

In Year 10 I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of things at Rangitoto College, which have helped me to grow as a person teaching me many skills. Some of these being various sports such as rugby, tag and the sports performance academy. Another thing that I had the amazing opportunity to join is Tū Rangatira. Tū Rangatira bases their knowledge around mātauranga Māori which is then taught to us students enhancing our knowledge and understanding of Māori the culture. One last thing that I was very grateful to be a part of in Year 10 was our kapa haka group. This group helped me by pushing me outside of my comfort zone and teaching me how to be a true leader within the school.

Each of these groups have given me very valuable experience by teaching me key life skills such as teamwork, discipline, Māori culture and how to be a leader. These groups have also deepened my connection with teachers and peers as they have allowed me to connect with them on a much closer level through many different activities.

Rangitoto College is a truly remarkable school as it is determined to give every student great opportunity and works very hard to ensure that each and every one of us is able to have a memorable experience here at Rangitoto college.

I am very grateful to have had every one of the opportunities that have been presented to me. Each opportunity has taught me so much key knowledge and skills which is why I am truly grateful to be a part of this amazing school.