20 November 2023

 Garelja Family Te Whare Puoro

A state-of-the-art music facility has been at the forefront of Nick Baldwin’s vision for music at Massey High School for 11 years. A long time as an idea, and just over a year of construction later, his patience and perseverance has finally seen his vision become a reality. A large crowd assembled at the school at 5am on Tuesday 14th November to participate in the opening of the Garelja Family Te Whare Puoro (Garelja Family House of Music).

The opening was coordinated by Matua Josh and Matua Robbie, thanks to Whaea Danielle and Whaea Lisa for their preparations behind the scenes, and to Whaea Awa and Whaea Carol for the Karanga.

During the Karakia, the name of the new facility was unveiled by Sally Garelja – the name being chosen in recognition of the generous support the Garelja Family has provided to Massey High School, in particular The Arts at Massey over many years.

Nick Baldwin, Head of the Arts Faculty delivered a beautiful emotional address which perfectly captured how much it meant to be finally moving into a purpose-built Music facility, and which acknowledged the support of John, Sally, and their family. Nick has been instrumental (no pun intended) in designing the music block to best serve the needs of musicians at Massey High School. We have a long history of incredibly talented musicians, and we now have a facility that such talent deserves.

Over the next week, the Music Department will move into the building, with classes getting underway in there next week. There is a gala opening event later this month which will include performances from students present and past.

Finally, I would like to give thanks to the contractors who have worked on the project and delivered a facility that our students deserve – in particular to Stryde Projects.

Year 13 Camp 2024

As mentioned previously, the start of 2024 sees the reintroduction of Year 13 camp. For me, it is incredibly important for as much of our Year 13 cohort to be able to bond at the start of the year, I have many wonderful memories of Year 13 camps over the years and the impact that they have had on students.

We are looking to have 180 of our Year 13s spend 3 days (2 nights) together in the first week back next year. During that time they will engage in variety of activities whilst strengthening ties with each other. Notification has gone out to current Year 12 students, and the camp will fill on a first in basis. The cost to students is only $50 – with places filling I’d urge parents and caregivers to return the completed permission slips etc to the school in the next couple of weeks.