Kākātahi School: A small centre of educational excellence on the Parapara Highway

Pupils Kehu Maraku 10 (left), Molly Booth 9, Hailee Hopper 8, Quinn Hamilton 10, Freddy Booth 5, Matilda Stratton 5, Honor Hamilton 8, and Cyrus Teture 11, with principal Charlotte Von Pein. Photo / Bevan Conley

Kākātahi School on the Parapara Highway, midway between Whanganui and Raetihi, has had a great start to 2023 despite a number of slips and roadworks along the route.

Principal Charlotte Von Pein was taking a reading class with the school’s nine pupils when the Chronicle called in so we caught up with Caroline Tate who runs the school’s lunch programme.

There were delicious-smelling muffins baking in the oven and Tate was making vegetable fritters.

“It’s great to be able to make the lunches on-site,” she said.

“The children can have input into what goes into their lunches and we can add ingredients from our gardens.”

There are flourishing vegetable beds and others contain herbs, blueberry and strawberry plants.

And there are some impressive-looking pumpkins on sloping beds above the school swimming pool.

Last year, pupils gained agricultural and environmental knowledge through planting and tending the garden beds, and Graham and Lyn Pearson of the Sustainable Whanganui Trust provided lessons on fruit tree planting.

“The children loved that and the trust donated two plum trees and feijoa bushes to the school,” Tate said.

Kākātahi School provides a whānau environment that will include preschool sessions this year. Photo / Bevan Conley

Raetihi resident Lesley Brown had also donated a fruit tree to the school on behalf of her family members who were past pupils.

Tate said the aim was to create a sustainable future where the school could share the produce with the community and children gain valuable life skills in planting and tending the trees for future generations to enjoy.

“Charlotte also includes maths and reading lessons as part of the mahi,” Tate said.

The school has lots of visitors, it seems all bringing new learning opportunities, and there are combined activities with Aberfeldy and Mangamahu schools that form part of the rural cluster.

There were trips to Whanganui for museum visits and Kākātahi pupils did well in the Aranui Interschool Cross-country in September and the Mitre 10 Tough Kids Challenge in December.

Von Pein left her position as a long-serving teacher at Raetihi School to take over from Kākātahi’s former principal Barry Garland in 2021.

She is supported by Tate and administrator and classroom assistant Mary Proffit.

“We’re very much a whānau here and I’m fortunate to have Caroline and Mary who know the school and community so well,” Von Pein said.

At morning break time children headed out to ride Kākātahi’s fleet of bicycles acquired as part of the Bikes in Schools programme.

“We have just had them serviced so they are all in good condition for the new year,” Von Pein said.

“The tar-sealed driveway and sports court are good surfaces to ride on and, as you can see, everyone is very good at putting their helmets on.”

The school’s newest pupil is 5-year-old Matilda Stratton who started this year and she joins Kākātahi’s other Year 1 pupil Freddy Booth who turned 5 in August.

It could be the start of an upward trend for the school roll which has been in single digits for several years.

The number of children under 5 in the area is on the increase and the school’s second building, which has been used for storage and community coffee mornings, is now being upgraded as a space for preschool sessions.

“A couple more pupils on the roll would make the school eligible for our own bus,” Von Pein said.

“Although we do manage to participate in a good range of outside activities, a bus would certainly make planning trips a lot easier.”

Like many rural schools in the area, Kākātahi had humble beginnings in shearing quarters in 1911 and closed and reopened a number of times in various temporary locations until the Education Board funded the building of a new two-room school which opened in 1963.