School's new name Te Kura o Wairau honours culture and history

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Carver Craig Kawana, left, school principal Teena Johnson, project leader Israel Tangaroa Birch and designer Jessica Collins at the unveiling of the new entranceway at Te Kura o Wairau.

A new name has given a multicultural Palmerston North school a better sense of belonging.

What was Somerset Crescent School is now called Te Kura o Wairau, a name which better recognises the different cultures at the school and the history of the area.

It was previously called Highbury School, but changed its name to Somerset Crescent in the early 2000s.

The school unveiled its new school sign, a tomokanga entranceway and a wānanga classroom space, for Māori learning, at a dawn blessing on Tuesday.

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Principal Teena Johnson said the change was hugely significant for the school.

Somerset Crescent School has been renamed as Te Kura o Wairau.

“It means we have a place of belonging. We know where we come from and we know where we’re going.”

She said it gave staff the knowledge to teach the correct local history.

Four years ago the school started learning local Māori history, then started learning about the other ethnicities at the school.

There are 19 different ethnicities at the school now.

Rangitāne kaumātua, Wiremu Kingi Te Awe Awe, left, listens to project leader Israel Tangaroa Birch explain the details of the school’s new designs.

Peter Te Rangi, of the Rangitāne iwi, helped support the school during the programme and he gifted it the new name.

The name came from the first surveyed map of the area and Wairau was one of the areas between the Ōroua and Manawatū rivers, near the confluence of the two rivers at Rangiotū.

He said Wairau meant 100 streams, which referred to the many streams in the area before drainage was dug and stop-banks built, and it also applied to the different backgrounds of children at the school.

“They have recaptured that name to represent the 100 streams of cultures and have children coming into the school, but also the hundreds of options that education can give children, hopefully to achieve what they want to achieve.”

Johnson said the school wanted to pay its respects to local iwi Rangitāne in the carving and artwork.

Warren Warbrick and Israel Tangaroa Birch were the leaders of the project and the tomokanga carving was done by Craig Kawana.

The carving depicts demi god Māui, the first Polynesian to come to New Zealand Kupe, Rangitāne ancestor Whātonga and representations of school board member Te Māramatanga, Grant-Plumridge, who died in a house fire last year and Shane Rūwhiu, the school’s kaumātua who died in 2018.

The two pillars symbolise the school’s Māori and Pasifika representation.

There is also artwork, done by Jessica Collins, in the wānanga space, which is called te mokai o tautu.

The new emblem for the school includes flowers that bloom in spring, which represents the growth of the children and wanting them to flourish.

Board of Trustees chairman Tony Coffin had been involved with the school for almost 30 years and said this was the biggest project he had seen there.

“It will live in the heart of our community for many years.”

In 2019 nearby Monrad Intermediate School did a similar rebranding to Te Kura Waenga o Tirohanga Monrad Intermediate, with the two names of equal importance.