Maia Matchitt, 16, prefect at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu. She is looking forward to learning at the new site on Bennett Rd, Hastings, next week. Photo / Warren Buckland
The school opened as a kōhanga reo with just 12 students in 1991, the first total-immersion te reo Māori school in Hastings and Napier.
Tama Huata was the tipuna and founder of Te Wānanga Whare Tāpere o Takitimu, starting the kaupapa in 1983 and formalising it as Te Waka Tapu o Takitimu Trust in 1984.
The founding trustees were Tama Huata, Aorangi Tuki, Heke Huata and Manawa Tini.
His daughter Narelle Huata said everything developed from Tama Huata’s experience as a Māori entertainer in Sydney’s Māori music showbands scene
“He then returned to New Zealand and started the performing arts school modelled off his experiences,” she said.
Sir John Bennett, Te Amorangi Wi Te Tau Huata, Ringahora Heni Ngakai Huata, Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, Bill Hamilton and Joe Northover were the kaumatua who helped Huata to establish the school, and developed leaders in Māori performing arts since 1983 through the Kahurangi Dance company.
Now the school has more than 200 students, and became the first to offer a degree in Māori Performing Arts in 1995 according to the Education Review Office (ERO).
The kura, kōhanga reo and wānanga expanded when it was recognised with “Wharekura status” in 2015, which allowed it to enrol high school students – completing its unique, seamless education model from birth to old age.
A 2023 report written by Lynda Pura-Watson, deputy chief executive of evaluation and review Māori for ERO, found Te Wānanga Whare Tāpere o Takitimu successfully fostered leadership for learners from birth to 65-plus.
“Mokopuna thrived in a nurturing environment and students were confident in their learning, achieving high levels of success in National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) including endorsements” she wrote for ERO.
The relocation journey began nearly a decade ago when members of Te Kauwae Rangatiratanga (school board) began working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) as the kura had become too small to cater for the growing number of families wanting to enrol their children.
An announcement of MOE’s purchase of the Bennett Rd site was made in 2017 and Hastings District Council approved the site for educational use in 2018.
At the time, $12.7 million was approved for the build.
Whetu Marama Paenga, high school head teacher and music teacher at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu. Photo / Warren Buckland
Whetu Marama Paenga, Te Pou o Te Wharekura (head teacher, high school), attended the kōhanga reo and kura himself before studying at the University of Waikato and returning as the first wharekura teacher in 2015.
He said the high school roll had been too big at the old site and they had needed to establish two prefab buildings to fit classes and later split off to a second site established on Beatty St.
The primary schooling section now has three large open spaces for years 0-2, 3-4 and 5-6, each equipped with kitchenettes.
Intermediate-age children have their own space in a building shared with specialised classes for high school-age students, including soundproofed music rooms, an art room, and a sewing room among the 14 different spaces.
“It is cool knowing now that the kids have more space,” Paenga said.
“We are self-sufficient now, we can do everything.”
The new site also has multi-purpose outdoor courts, a massive indoor gym building, a hāngi pit and native gardens including a centre piece boardwalk garden modelled from the Ātea a Rangi star compass in Waitangi Regional Park near Awatoto.
A wānanga tertiary building will eventually be added and Paenga said there were hopes future students would pick it, over leaving for other universities.
“We want our kids to leave here and aspire to go there.”
The philosophy of the school: “Mai te kōpu o te Whaea ki te kōpu o Papatuānuku” or “womb-to-tomb” learning, comes from its founders.
“I think we are the only ones that have gone from kōhanga, kura, wharekura to wānanga and we have taikura too (a programme for elders).”
The model has become self-sustaining, with many students like Paenga opting to return and work for the place that helped raise them.
Paenga gave the example of a staff member who started in the wānanga and had a son who went through the kōhanga and kura and became a teacher.
That teacher is also sending his children through the kōhanga and kura.
“I have three students who want to be teachers… We don’t have to go elsewhere looking for a teacher, we know ‘In five years you’ll be old enough and come back’.”
Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu moved to Bennett Rd after 33 years operating on Albert St. Photo / Warren Buckland
Maia Matchitt, a prefect at Te Wananga Whare Tapere O Takitimu, couldn’t pick her favourite part of the new site- she loved it all too much.
“It’s amazing, I can’t believe we’re here,” Matchitt said.
“It is just way bigger than our other school. I don’t know what to do with all this space.”
The 16-year-old went to the kōhanga reo and began her primary school years in the mainstream schooling system before returning to the kura in year four.
She takes a broad range of classes which will benefit from the new spaces, including Te Reo Māori, Te Ao Haka and sports like netball.
Phase two of the project involves the relocation of whānau from Albert St to Bennett Rd, and includes the sale of the Albert St site and the start of the new wānanga build at Bennett Rd.
A statement from Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated advocated for a change in the official status of the educational institute from a private training establishment to a Wānanga.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on the environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz