Wairoa Mormon church doubles as temporary Nūhaka School after Cyclone Gabrielle and flood

Children play on equipment donated from an Auckland school. Photo RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham

By RNZ’s Jimmy Ellingham

A twice-flooded northern Hawke’s Bay primary school is continuing to take lessons at a Mormon church.

Its classrooms were damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle, but it’s hoping to be back in them when the bell rings for the start of 2025.

In the meantime, Nūhaka School staff are doing everything they can to ensure the makeshift arrangements feel normal at its temporary location on State Highway 2, 32km north of Wairoa.

But nothing can hide the fact it’s been a rough few months for the 80 pupils, from years 1-8, and 12 staff at the school.

Forced out of their usual home in the town last February, for a few months they would bus to Wairoa every day for class, before the distinctive Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became their new temporary home.

Then, in November, another flood forced them out of the chapel. They returned for term one this year.

Principal Raelene McFarlane started the job in late 2022 - and since last year has been in full cyclone response mode.

“I’m so committed to our tamariki not coming through this feeling like refugees. We want to come out of this like the strong, resilient community we are,” she told Checkpoint.

Using the chapel came about thanks to a link between church leadership and the school board, after an exhaustive search for a location where all the pupils could learn together - something not initially possible in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The chapel has teaching classrooms. They’re a bit smaller. We wiggle and jiggle our way though, but it works incredibly well,” McFarlane said.

“We have a shared use on weekends. The congregation comes in and they use the sacrament hall, which we never go into. It’s a sacred place.

“They still use the classrooms for some of the classes that they run as well.”

Pupils and staff can feel at home, at least temporarily, unlike the initial arrangements after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Then, they had a slightly shorter day in class, to allow the bus full of pupils to travel from Nūhaka to Wairoa at the beginning of the day and return at the end.

“Our teachers, they would have to carry in the maths gears every day because we didn’t have a lot of storage,” McFarlane said.

“We didn’t have resources in town, but they just kept on going. They were incredible.”

Eleven five-year-olds have started at Nūhaka this year, and their teacher Jonelle Finnie, known as Koka Nellie to the pupils, said the church worked as a school.

But she was looking forward to moving to the rebuilt permanent classrooms after a tough year.

“I was teaching at a kindergarten in Wairoa before here and that kindergarten got flooded, so we were displaced to another kindergarten in Wairoa. It was pretty heartbreaking.

“Then we’ve come here and the chapel got flooded. My children go to the school so they experienced the flood at the school.”

McFarlane said the November flood at the temporary school hurt more than Cyclone Gabrielle.

“All the mud and water off the back hills came right through. [One] classroom had about two inches of water in it... so we just had to pack up again and rip up all the carpet.”

For the last five weeks of the 2023 school year, Nūhaka classes moved to Tāne-nui-a-Rangi Marae.

Meanwhile, the school’s permanent campus in the town lies eerie and empty.

The damage isn’t obvious now, but all the classrooms were damaged will be demolished, although the school hall will stay.

New classrooms are being built offsite ahead of a special reopening at the beginning of next year.

At the church, outside, there is an impressive looking play area. McFarlane said that would be packed up and taken to the school’s permanent home, as they leave the chapel as they found it.

“My hubby came down and built the sand pit for us. If you marry a school teacher that’s your life,” she said.

“The ministry have funded putting in the shade sail, because there was absolutely no shade here, and it came in at the start of the year and it’s gold.... A local Nūhaka man made our tables, so that we could use them for eating lunch on. And the playground came from a school on the North Shore in Auckland.”

It’s nice, but even the children are vocal about wanting to go back to normal, telling Checkpoint they’re looking forward to moving back to town.

McFarlane is also asking the Ministry of Education for extra funding, including for extra staff so the present ones can have time to create and plan, and a staffed wellness space for pupils.

Ministry deputy secretary for Te Tai Whenua - central Jocelyn Mikaere said the school had applied for “special reasons funding” to provide additional teacher and teacher aide support for pupils affected by the ongoing disruptions.

“A decision is expected on the additional funding in term two this year,” she said.

“They have also received ‘North Island weather event’ funding to develop supports for students in making up for lost learning.”

She said demolition of the school’s existing buildings at its permanent site would begin in May.