Te Miro School is celebrating 100 years since their opening this month. Photo / Supplied.
Te Miro School is celebrating 100 years since their opening this month. Photo / Supplied.
Te Miro School is celebrating 100 years since it opened and acknowledging the areas past historical events and developments in a centenary event this month.
All of Te Miro's past and present students, staff and residents are invited to join the celebratory event taking place on Saturday, March 21.
The programme for the celebration includes activities during the day and an evening function at the Te Miro Hall.
The day starts at 9.30am with a morning tea meet and greet followed by the official welcome, speeches, cutting of the cake and tree planting.
Guests will then get to look around Te Miro School and grounds before lunch. After lunch guests will venture out on buses to tour the district. The day's events close with an afternoon tea, activities and entertainment.
An old photograph of the Te Miro School building, the school started in 1920. Photo / Supplied.
Today, the school has a roll of 24 students and two classrooms.
Over its 100 years it has had 47 principals. The current principal is Michaela Phillips, with 80 teaching staff and just over 1100 students.
School transport for the school started in 1946 when the sole teacher Mr A Thompson collected students from around the district in his Cadillac.
The school remained as a sole charge school until 1951 when a shelter shed was converted into a classroom. Three years later a junior block was built.
The Te Miro district also has a rich history.
It was home to renowned Ngati Haua leader Wiremu Tamihana who was largely responsible for establishment of the Maori King movement. In 1890 King Tawhiao established a meeting house in Te Miro and thousands would travel to attend his meetings.
A Maori newspaper was also published in the district between 1891 and 1902 and the printing press is now on display in the Cambridge Museum.
New Zealand's first open-air sanatorium for tuberculosis sufferers was established in a homestead on Te Miro's Maungakawa Hill in 1903. It closed in 1922.
In 1916 the Government purchased over 12,000 acres of land in Te Miro and offered it for ballot to World War I returned soldiers in 1918. Today there are four families in Te Miro who are descendants of World War I soldier settlers.
Those interested in attending the centenary event need to register at temirocentenary@gmail.com and include their full name, contact phone number and the number of people they wish to register.
