History of Kawakawa Primary School
Kawakawa Primary School was established in 1873 and the first building was part of the Mining Co Building. The first teacher referred to is a Mr W.W.Taylor and he was assisted by his wife.
The first permanent school building was build on the present site and completed and occupied in 1879. The land for the school was either given or sold to the Education Board by the Bay of Island Coal Company.
During the course of the next few years the Pakaru and Whangae School were closed and the children from these areas then attended Kawakawa Primary School. So as we see, the closure of small schools particularly those of three or four years ago, were no different to those back in the early 20th century, obviously the viability of running small schools was also a concern for the Education Board of the time and where possible they were closed. Times haven’t changed at all.
Kawakawa School has always had a healthy roll and it has seen gradual growth over the years. When the Bay of Island Intermediate school was set up Kawakawa became a Year 1 – 6 school and then in the late 90s recapertated and one again became a full Primary School.
In 1993 the first Bi –Lingual class was opened and today we have 5 Bi-lingual and 9 mainstream classes
|
