A trailblazing former principal of Flaxmere College has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the New Year Honours that were announced today.
Louise Ānaru-Tangira (known in Hawke's Bay as Louise Anaru) was principal from 2010 to 2019, when she left to become principal of Kaitaia College, 40km from where she now lives at Mangonui, near the shores of Doubtless Bay in the Far North.
The honour recognises 21 years of service to education, in which she has been credited with leading Flaxmere College from a point of low student achievement and attendance to high achievement rates that were recognised with the Supreme Award at the 2018 Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards.
At the school, which opened in 1993 as a Years 7-13 college developed on the site of the former Flaxmere Intermediate School (Years 7-8), she focused on accelerating Māori student progress by working with their whānau and community, drawing input from a student leaders' group for improvements to the school, and hiring Māori and Pacific staff to connect with students.
She initiated a Teen-Parent Unit and attached an early childhood centre at the school and ensured all staff received professional development in Te Kotahitanga, a culturally responsive collective action learning strategy.