One of New Zealand’s oldest boarding schools, Tipene St Stephens, re-opened its doors to students this week.
The school was closed in 2000, following performance and financial issues and alleged entrenched bullying – but this week, staff and students were off to a fresh start.
At a ceremony yesterday, past students performed a haka in front of their beloved kura, standing proudly as a new generation of students arrived.
“He tōmina nui, he moehewa roa, kia whakatūwhera anō ki a tatou nei kura (It’s been a great struggle, a long perseverance to reopen our school once again),” Taiaha Hawke, a former student said.
Forty boys were welcomed in the first cohort to attend Tipene St Stephens School in a quarter of a century.
One said he was “very nervous and happy at the same time”.
Another was asked how he felt following in his koro’s footsteps by attending Tipene.
“I was pretty proud,” he said.
Tipene St Stephen’s co-principal Nathan Durie said: “It’s a privileged position to lead the next chapter of this kura.”
The kura was founded in 1884 as an Anglican boarding school for young Māori men.
Known for its academic, cultural, and sporting achievements, the school produced some of Maoridom’s most prominent leaders – with many returned to attend the school’s reopening this week.
The school was closed in 2000 after allegations of chronic bullying and performance concerns. The deal to shutter the institution was reportedly signed on the boot of a car.
Following its closure, the buildings were used by police for stakeouts and target practice by the army.
Some didn’t think the school would ever reopen — but many former students always held hope.
“[I’m] feeling emotional for a lot of us, coming back knowing all the work that’s been done,” Te Ururoa Flavell, a former student now school board chairperson, said.
Former student Waihoroi Shortland said: “Ka tangi te ngakau i te tini o ngā hoa, i timata mātou kōnei i te tau ono tekau ma rima, etahi ka rātou kua ngaro (My heart mourns the loss of many friends. We began here in 1965, and some have passed on).
Tipene St Stephens would now be operated under the charter school’s system.
“It opens the door for us to fulfil our rangatiratanga and design and deliver for ourselves,” co-principal Durie said.
He said the community had worked tirelessly to get the campus back into shape.
Durie said it was a “massive investment from a financial position”. “But also a massive investment of passion from people who really believed in one this kura, but really from our end of it, belief in our young men,” he said.
“It’s not a matter of reawakening the ghosts of the past but invigorating the dreams of tomorrow,” Shortland said.
