School buildings

Kia orana my name is Steve Anderson and I have been a parent and member of the Board of Governors for Apii Te Uki Ou for a number of years.

I was not involved with the school when it started but I understand it began with a single classroom, in many different locations. It was established as a proper school in the 1990s, and eventually moved to its current location in Ngatangiia.

When the school moved to Ngatangiia, the buildings it took over were in very poor condition. They needed a lot of work by parents and teachers to get them into usable condition. Two classrooms that had been built in the old Nikao site were moved to Ngatangiia that are now rooms 2 & 3.

However in 2006 Rooms 4, 5 and 6 were thought to be at the end of their life, and were demolished and replaced with the new concrete buildings that you see today.

The old library and office block were in need of replacement and were demolished in April 2010. The replacements are being built right now and will look almost the same as the current rooms 4, 5 and 6.

The school has been doing lots of fundraising over the years, through raffles and many other ways, and has paid for all the past building construction and repairs. This latest building protect is half funded by the school, and half by the generous assistance of the New Zealand government.

I don’t think the school would ever move again. The new buildings are good quality, and are made of permanent materials that can’t be moved. The site is really well placed with a great seaside outlook, which is very pleasant for a learning environment, so I think the school would want to stay where it is.

While there is no intention of building another school, I think that Apii Te Uki Ou is an outstanding example of how a school should be run, and it may be that another community might want to copy our model. That would be wonderful, and would provide the opportunity for more children to enjoy the benefits that the Apii Te Uki Ou pupils have.

By Sam and Antz