The site where Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai aims to be built. Photo / Supplied
The site where Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai aims to be built. Photo / Supplied
New details of a $10 million school to be built on the outskirts of Rotorua have been revealed.
The high-performing iwi-based kura has been operating out of makeshift classrooms for several years at Hannah's Bay in Rotorua but its dream of building a new school has moved a step closerafter the consenting process was this week publicly notified.
Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai plans to build its new school on a section of former farmland at 116 State Highway 30, Tikitere, not far from the Whakatāne turnoff.
The site where Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai aims to be built. Photo / Supplied
The school started in 2008 and was based at Tapuaekura Marae, also known as Rakeiao, on the shores of Lake Rotoiti but it soon outgrew the premises as the kura's popularity increased.
The total immersion kura moved into Rotorua to a site owned by Te Manawa o te Wheke Amorangi Centre, the Maori Anglican Church, on Robinson Ave in 2016.
The move was meant to be temporary but there were delays in getting the new school built.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced in August 2018 it would give $10 million to build the school.
In late 2018, the Ministry of Education spent just under $1 million buying the farmland.
There are currently more than 100 students at the school aged to Year 13 kura but the resource consent application said it intended to have 325 students (275 students and 50 kōhanga reo) and 38 staff members.
The site where Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai aims to be built. Photo / Supplied
The application noted it was expected to generate about 179 trips during the peak drop-off and pick-up hours but the "surrounding roading network could accommodate the expected trip generation associated with the kura from a capacity perspective".
Co-principal Renata Curtis told the Rotorua Daily Post it had taken since 2018 to go through the resource consent process and there were further hold-ups with the Rotorua Lakes Council as a result of Covid-19.
"We have been waiting a long time for this. The resource consent application went before the council two-and-a-half years ago but then Covid happened and everything ground to a halt.
"It's now gone out to the wider community for consultation but we are happy there is lots of support from the community and iwi."
The site where Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai aims to be built. Photo / Supplied
She said the site was "the perfect place" and had been on the market for about five months before the ministry bought it.
"It was just our luck it came up for sale."
She said it was hoped they could move to the newly built school in two years at the most.
"We need to get off this site for the sake of (the owners). We were told it would be two years max but by the time it's built, it will be six years. We are grateful we have been able to stay this long but we won't miss it as it's not purpose-built for a school."
Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said the ministry bought the land for the kura in late 2018 for just under $1 million and it then began the land designation process.
Shannon said the council had now invited public submissions on the application.
"We'll be able to consider next steps including construction plans and timeframes once the outcome of the designation process is known."
Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai girls perform at Te Arawa Primary School's Kapa Haka Festival last month. Photo / File
Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai, whose students live and breathe their tikanga as part of their curriculum, punches above its weight when it comes to school kapa haka competitions and Manu Korero school speech competitions.
