From Te Kura o Te Koutu to Mexico with love

It was an emotional time as parents and family members bid their young ones farewell last week.
But it was also the day 20 Te Kura o Te Koutu students had been working hard for - a three-month school exchange in Mexico.
With the support of their families, the determined senior students worked hard for a year to raise the $8000 required for the experience most described as their "trip of a lifetime".
"It's about independence and helping students understand the concept of working hard to achieve a goal," said Eva Tait, the mother of student Te Mauri Kingi.
"I was very nervous leading up to my son's departure and his father still is.
"But I'm more content about the idea now," she said.
"The whole fundraising experience has helped my boy and the other students grow up heaps. I've seen that with my own eyes."
Students spent most weekends and holidays alongside family members, either selling snacks at sausage sizzles and holding raffles or making and selling unique items including canvas paintings and Maori tiki necklaces made of clay to raise funds for the exchange.
The students will spend most of their time in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, alongside four Te Kura o Te Koutu staff members, where they will attend the Associated Language Institute (Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca), which is well known for it's intensive Spanish-language programme.
Te Kura o Te Koutu School principal Uenuku Fairhall said the trip would further the students' Spanish-language studies, Spanish being a compulsory subject at the school.
While away the Year 11 to Year 13 students will also be able to gain credits that will count toward their tertiary studies and they will board with Mexican families.
"This is the second big trip to Mexico for the school and the students are exceptionally open to new ideas. It's very exciting," Mr Fairhall said.
"I really hope they absorb everything around them. It's truly a life-changing experience," he said.
Former Te Kura o Te Koutu student Kahira Tait was part of the school's 10-week cultural exchange in 2006, when 35 senior students and five teachers spent time in Oaxaca, Los Angeles.
As she bid her younger cousins goodbye last week, she remembered her experience and the appreciation she gained for her family and culture while living in another country.
"The best part of the trip was gaining the knowledge to speak fluent Spanish and not only appreciate other cultures but your own too," she said.