Kaitāia Primary School celebrating 150 years of schooling

It is perhaps the longest-running continuous site of education in the country and now Kaitāia Primary School is gearing up to celebrate 150 years.

But education on at the site goes back even further.

The school officially opened in April 1875 and will celebrate a century and a half at the Church Rd site from April 6-10 with a full programme of activities to mark the occasion.

And while the 150th celebrations will be a milestone in itself, the school’s educational roots predate its official beginnings.

The school is located on the same site as the former Anglican mission established in Kaitāia in 1834 by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Soon after, a rudimentary mission school was built near where St Saviour’s Church stands today.

“Educational activity has been taking place on this site for about 190 years — which is likely to be one of the places in the country with the longest history of continuous education, if not the longest,” Kaitāia Primary principal Brendon Morrissey said.

“The fact that we’re approaching almost 200 years of continuous educational activity is particularly special.”

Although there is limited information about the day-to-day educational activities that took place at the school in its earliest years, other historic mission sites around Northland — today cared for by Heritage NZ — can fill in some of the gaps.

The Kerikeri Mission Station and Te Waimate Mission Station operated schools and information about them can help shed light on what would have been happening at the Kaitāia Mission School.

“We can be fairly confident that the mission school at Kaitāia would have employed the same methodologies as the mission schools in the Bay of Islands,” Kerikeri Mission Station property lead Liz Bigwood said.

Some of the mission schools’ curriculum content may sound a bit dated to our way of thinking — ‘domestic arts’ for the girls for example — but Bigwood says the missionaries got some things right.

“Lessons were taught in te reo Maori, and the missionary teacher’s method of ‘mutual instruction’ ... proved extremely successful, probably because it mirrored whanau-based tikanga where older children cared for and instructed their younger siblings,” she said.

“Attendance was also encouraged by the missionaries who provided a cooked meal to the young pupils who came to school.”

The missionaries also learned to speak te reo — one of their most challenging tasks, but which proved to be one of the most successful steps towards engaging with Te Ao Maori.”

“We’re looking forward to celebrating Kaitāia Primary’s 150th anniversary next year as part of that richer heritage of education that has taken place here on this site,” Morrissey said.

Activities during the five-day commemorations include “Olden Days’’ memories, hangi lunch, golden oldies event, current and former staff meeting, a roll call of former pupils, a history display, WWI commemoration plaque, art mural and a school concert and twilight festival on April 10, with live music, the cutting of the birthday cake and guest speakers.

To register for the 150th collect a form from the school, email kps150@kaitaiaprimary.school.nz or online at kaitaiaprimary.school.nz/kps-150.