New $1.3m classrooms open for rumaki students at Merivale School

The Matenga siblings Levi, 8, Ashlyn, 5, and Kaia, 10, have all moved over to the school's new whare wānanga. Photo / Emma Houpt

For the Matenga siblings, Merivale School's two brand new immersion classrooms will "make a really big difference".

They are just three of 38 Ngā Hau e Whā pupils - the school's full Māori immersion unit - who have started learning inside the new buildings in line with the start of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.

An official opening was held early yesterday morning to bless the whare wānanga, with mana whenua, staff, pupils and the school's former principal Jan Tinetti, the current Associate Minister of Education, all in attendance.

Kaia Matenga, 10, said the new classrooms were "a big upgrade" and she was "really happy" to be inside them along with her siblings.

She said the "size and the looks" of the classrooms were better compared with their old learning space located in the main block of the school.

"It's a big upgrade from our old classrooms," she said. "It will make a really big difference."

She said she was also pleased to have easy access to the school field and to be closer to the kōhanga reo located next door.

School principal Tom Paekau said he was "just stoked" the classrooms were ready to use after being in the works for more than two years.

"It's been a long process but this side of it is really cool," he said.

He said construction only finished last week but he had already noticed a "change of atmosphere" in the school, with teachers and pupils sharing his sentiment.

"Having whaea Jan, as our Associate Minister of Education, she knows our narrative here. To have her backing us is just phenomenal."

In 2019, the Ministry told Paekau the school had been identified as one in the Tauranga area "that needed to grow in terms of classrooms spaces" to keep up with population increase.

The timing of this was "quite fortuitous" because at the same time the school's board had been discussing the possibility of building a whare onsite, he said.

"The rethink happened. Let's get two classrooms and call them our whare wānanga. We can still do things as you would on a marae, but they are also for learning."

And the two classes - Te Awaiti and Te Awanui - "operate collectively" so sliding doors meant the classrooms could open up to one large space, he said.

Kaumātua Tamati Tata, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti and school principal Tom Paekau unveiling one of the classroom names. Photo / Emma Houpt

"There is lots of interaction happening, more so than in your junior and senior school."

The buildings had also been fitted out with a kitchen and wharepaku so the school could host noho marae, he said.

He said it was much-needed as the school had been "overcrowded" in recent years and it set the standard for classrooms in the future.

"If that's the standard going forward, it's amazing for all of our schools. Some of our classrooms are old - like 50s and 60s stuff."

Next up Paekau said he planned to have carvings and murals put on the outside of the building "so we know this our rumaki".

Addressing the crowd, Tinetti said it was "really appropriate" to be opening the classrooms in line with Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.

She told the Bay of Plenty Times it was "amazing" to return to the school and see the plan come to fruition.

"It really does warm my heart to see this and the beauty of these classrooms," she said.

She said the school roll had increased "astronomically" and the extra space would ease pressure on existing classrooms that were "bursting at the seams".

"Tauranga has been identified as a roll growth area - and so we have got a plan around what the roll growth looks like and how we can support it. But to see it happening here in the Vale is just magic."

Ministry of Education head of property Sam Fowler said the two offsite manufactured buildings were funded to accommodate the school's growing roll.

The total cost to deliver the new buildings was about $1.3 million, he said.