Cutting the jubilee cake are Ngaire Phillips, who taught at the school 50 years ago, and Florence Ormsby, a descendant of the school’s founder.
When they talk about whanau at Pirongia School, they really mean it.
The school, which marked its 150th anniversary this year, is one of the oldest in the district. Topping all the delights of its sesquicentennial was the way the school and its community brought the past and present together in a uniquely personal way.
They marked the passage of time with a raft of events over Labour Weekend, and special ties were celebrated that spanned the school’s history.
There was a talk from long-retired Ngaire Phillips, a teacher at the school in the 1950s. She went on to cut the jubilee cake with the school’s current youngest student, Florence Ormsby. Not only is Florence the school’s youngest student in a particularly auspicious year, but she is also the great, great, great, great grandchild of the school’s founding principal and early teacher, Robert Ormsby.
Museum records show that when Robert established the school in 1873, it was just one small room with an attached porch. He taught alongside a Mrs Dillon, who taught sewing. By 1874 there were 36 students enrolled. Today, there are around 400 … and growing.
Principal Kelly Bicknell said planning for the sesquicentennial was more than a year in the making. “We put a jubilee committee in place and worked from there. As it turned out everything went off without a hitch … we’ve had great feedback.”
Three days of celebrations started with a powhiri attended by Tainui leader and Waikato University Professor Tom Roa, representing the only marae in the area, the Pūrekireki Marae. There were also five sold-out performances staged by the school’s senior students, entitled ‘A Walk down Memory Lane’ … a tribute written and directed by deputy principal Dona Hobbs and incorporating song, dance and drama covering the school’s history.
The school opened its spaces for the public to view various exhibitions and, following a thanksgiving service on the Sunday and the planting of a jubilee tree, a jubilee kōhatu was unveiled at a spot in the grounds overlooking Mt Pirongia. The kōhatu is a special rock brought back from the local farm of Tom Roa’s nephew, Sam Roa, and placed on a plinth as the 150th stone surrounded by 149 smaller stones.
The school is a proud silver Enviroschools holder. Kelly, who has rural roots herself and came to Pirongia School after a stint as principal at Galatea School in the Bay of Plenty, wants to upgrade that status in 2024.
“It is our plan to turn that silver into gold next year,” she said.
