Papa Ra visited the school for a week and in the time he was here he got a great idea of what our school was like and how it worked. The main difference he noticed was the learning environment. One thing Papa Ra said was "Most of our teaching is outside in the real world". The main language has become, over the years, English, and a strong focus of some of his work is encouraging Cook Island Maori. There is even a Maori speech competition!
He not only visited the school but also had an opportunity to go to the Rippa Rugby Tournament in Motueka. He was noting down the rules as rippa had recently been introduced in his school, Nikao Maori School in Rarotonga. After seeing the game in action he thought he would have to tweak the rules to make the game faster for his pupils.
Papa Ra was warmly welcomed at school and the farewell was very sad. When his two week visit was cut short to one week following a death in Papa Ra's family it was still a valuable experience.
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