Cooper and Ruby Crisp with their lambs. Photo / John Borren
Cooper and Ruby Crisp with their lambs. Photo / John Borren
Farm animals will join kids, staff and families for the 125th-anniversary celebrations of Ōropi School.
The event features a display of old photos and memorabilia and is timed to coincide with the annual Calf Club Day today. .
“It’s an opportunity each year for kids to highlight their achievement in raising a baby animal, so we have lambs, goats, calves and chickens,” principal Andrew King said.
“The kids will create displays around the theme of the spring season they bring in, produce they’ve grown.
“It’s not just raising animals but giving kids opportunities to experience life cycles in a way that you can’t in an urban school.”
Ōropi School opened in a house in 1899 for about 20 children from a handful of nearby sawmilling families.
“We believe it was a turbulent time in the area because the European settlers had taken over and confiscated land from Māori, following the Battle of Gate Pā,” King said.
“This land, at the time, was considered the most fertile part of Ōropi.”
So, students at Ōropi School are taught about the journey taken by Māori travelling from Rotorua to Tauranga Moana, through Ōtanewainuku, down the Waimapu River, as well as the local legend and ancient stories surrounding the area.
“It means that we have both European and Māori threads to pull on when talking to the kids about the significance of the school in both history and legend,” King said.
Juno Troughton, left, Ellie Carter, Amber Carter and Toby Troughton. Photo / John Borren
In 1902, the school was closed when the house was reoccupied and three years later, a small school was opened at Gluepot, and a hall was also built across the gorge at Ōropi.
The school was held for three days at one location and two days at the other until the population grew on the Ōropi side to make it the more logical location.
In 1934, a two-roomed school building was built on the present school site.
“There were about 50 kids through to the 1960s, mostly from surrounding dairy farming families,” King said.
“Now, there’s more horticulture and lifestyle blocks with many parents working in the city and we have around 350 students, which is a really nice number.”
That roll has plateaued over the last few years.
“There’s a lot of growth in Ohauiti which may eventually push up numbers,” King said.
“We still have the original building that has been renovated about five times over the years and we’ve added another eight buildings to the school.”
