A school steeped in history

By ALAN PERROTT

The razor gang may have done its work, but Towai School still retains an air of permanence.

Its matt-blue, weatherboard buildings perched alongside State Highway 1, midway between Hikurangi and Kawakawa, could define old school.

Even so, 106 years of lessons will end this December following the Government's review of central Northland schools.

Towai's staff and board agreed to merge with nearby Maromaku School rather than risk becoming part of a bigger campus based at Hukerenui.

Some families have been swotting the three Rs at the school for four generations - since the days the region bustled with gum diggers, flax workers and timber mills.

The first schoolhouse had already been in use for 23 years when it was rolled on logs to its present site in the shadow of Ruapekapeka Pa in 1921.

Its grounds host trees planted in memory of former staff members and during Word War II a field was planted in potatoes to feed local families.

The old stories are now getting solemn reruns from the past pupils who have kept the school's phone ringing since the closure was announced.

"We all knew [closure] was coming" said Brent Davies, principal for 20 years. "But it wasn't until we saw the happiness of the schools who have survived that we began to realise what we have lost.

"It is like a funeral and we are grieving," he said. "I wouldn't have stayed as long as I have if I didn't see the value of small schools."

When the home-time bell sounded yesterday afternoon all 17 pupils gathered outside to sing "happy birthday" to a classmate.

While the Ministry of Education's network review acknowledged the school's sound governance and good ERO reports, it said any further drop in pupils could have led to an ad hoc closure.

Doubts have already been cast over the sustainability of the merger with Maromaku School.