Chch kura stuck at site with ‘leaks', 'mould' and sewage

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

By Ella Stewart (Ngāpuhi, Te Māhurehure, Ngāti Manu) of RNZ
When you step through the gates at Te Pā o Rākaihautū, you can feel the manaakitanga from its people wrap around you like a korowai.
Every morning, students and their whānau from the Christchurch-based school are welcomed in with a big 'kia ora' from kaiako.
"You'll hear waiata playing in the background. You'll hear genuine laughter and happiness to be there," said kaiurungi and principal Terina Tahau.
Inside, along the corridors, sepia-toned portraits of students dressed in feather kākahu (cloaks) and adorned with mataora and moko kauwae (Māori facial tattoos) line the walls - on one side photos show students on their first day of school, the other side displaying graduates - it serves as motivation for whānau Māori, many of whom haven't felt engaged or served by traditional Western systems of education.
But that wairua, or spirit, you feel in the school is a stark contrast to the actual temperatures inside.
The almost 70-year-old repurposed buildings are doing their best to keep the bitter cold out. Still, the students' breaths are visible as they giggle and chatter to each other on their way to class.
Signs of water damage are visible in one classroom, with parts of the wall rotting away and the ceiling paint peeling.
Te Pā o Rākaihautū is the South Island's first kura-ā-iwi, a state school mandated by local hapū or iwi. It was established as a 'Designated Character' school in 2014, and is a unique 21st-century pā wānanga (learning village).
But it never received a permanent site or new school buildings. Instead, it has been operating out of a temporary site, which leaders say is causing health and safety problems.
School leadership feels it has been battling against institutional racism and inequity from the Ministry of Education for more than a decade. RNZ examines the school's efforts to secure a permanent site and sufficient resources, despite its success in Māori-medium education.
Ministry of Education chief executive for school property Jerome Sheppard has acknowledged the school's concerns and said it was working with them to ensure that all students and staff have access to safe, warm and dry facilities. A long and winding road
Te Pā o Rākaihautū originated from a group of friends gathering in an Irish pub.
Brought together by their shared love of waiata Māori, they established what is now a well-known South Island-based Kapa Haka rōpū, Te Ahikaaroa.
But when there was a 'baby boom' in the group, the education options catering specifically to Māori were few and far between.
Te Pā founder and now chairperson Rangimarie Parata-Takurua said they started asking each other: "What is the environment we need to create for our kids to not just endure education, but really enjoy it and thrive?"
In the process, they thought back to their own experiences of the education system and when they were most engaged in learning.
"Inevitably it wasn't when we were sitting in a classroom or sitting in assembly … It was when we were back at our own marae, when we were surrounded by people that loved us, that fed us, that we did things with them that mattered to us.
"That was the beginning of Te Pā," she said.
The school's founders first applied to open the pā in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, but it was not until three years later that the government approved the establishment of Te Pā o Rākaihautū as a year 1-13 co-education school in Christchurch, opening in 2015.
The approval came without a business case or property budget attached, and Te Pā was assigned a temporary site at Richmond Primary School, a school that had previously closed down due to earthquake damage.
Due to rapid roll growth and the site's unsuitability, the school moved to another temporary site the same year it opened, this time to the previously closed-down Linwood Intermediate School. Poo floods in the playground
Since 2015, the old repurposed buildings in Linwood have had numerous health and safety issues.
According to principal Terina Tahau, she and the property manager meet every morning at 7am to walk around the pā, identifying any new leaks, broken pipes, or other issues.
One of the last major incidents involved sewage flooding on a Sunday.
"We had to get that cleaned up because we got kids coming on Monday, and the last thing they need to even think is that that's okay, because it's not.
"We spend many a weekend here because something's popped up."
The buildings are also cold.
"We know we have to keep our heat pumps on overnight because these facilities freeze, and if we don't have those heat pumps on 24/7 from Monday to Friday, then we're letting our pononga (students) come into something that's not suitable," Tahau said.
An independent workplace health and safety report - commissioned by the school's board in May - outlines what it says are "critical issues" that require "immediate and comprehensive action".
The report was done by Health and Safety at Work NZ, a Christchurch-based company that offers certifications, audits, investigations and training.
Some of the findings included "rotting window frames and sills" throughout classrooms, "significant ongoing leaks" over the kitchen area where school meals are prepared, and "widespread water damage to internal walls and ceilings, with visible mould growth in certain areas".
It also noted that evidence had emerged of health deterioration among staff and students, including "increased asthma symptoms reported among staff. Breathing difficulties and respiratory illness reported in students not previously affected".
"The findings from the 2025 inspection confirm that Te Pā o Rākaihautū continues to pose significant health and safety risks to its occupants. Despite partial repairs, the buildings remain cold, damp and in disrepair compromising the wellbeing of staff, students, and visitors."
Additionally, successive reports done by the Education Review Office (ERO) in 2017, 2021 and 2025 all highlighted the need for a permanent site and new buildings.
According to the most recent draft report by ERO, provided to RNZ by the school, securing a permanent site and building that "reflects the unique kaupapa of Te Pā o Rākaihautū" is "required".
"The pā has operated out of a temporary site for 10 years that compromises the health and safety of pononga and hinders realising the strategic goals of whānau."
The 2025 ERO report also said that the board, Te Tautarinui o Matariki, spends a "disproportionate amount of time and resources managing the ongoing aged property related issues".
"The pā continues to operate from a temporary site after 10 years. Again, ERO supports the need for Te Pā to establish their permanent pā site to realise their aspirations and full potential.
"The buildings are well past their use by date and need replacing," the ERO report said.
ERO did note that students are emotionally safe and healthy. International and local successes
The school has demonstrated strong academic results. The draft 2025 ERO report stated that students are achieving above national averages across all levels of NCEA.
"We can show results that the ministry has been unable to achieve in mainstream schooling since forever," said Parata-Takarua.
Part of their success story can be attributed to their kai programme, Parata-Takurua said.
Each day at school, all of the students, from year 1 to 13, receive two full meals.
"We were able to install commercial kitchens straight away, and we feed our kids breakfast and lunch."
Over the years, they have even built gardens and grown food themselves to supply the kitchen, something the students are actively involved with.
Half of the back field is now gardens, alongside 30 hectares they are leasing in the red zone, near the school.
With the first crop expected in the next season, Parata-Takurua said the initiative helps students reconnect with the whenua and understand composting processes.
The school was recognised internationally, winning the Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Global High Schools East Asia and Pacific category. Returning home
In May of 2023, a new site was identified near Te Waipapa, Diamond Harbour, at the base of Te Ahupātiki
Eight hectares of ancestral whenua, the same location where the school's namesake, Ngāi Tahu ancestor Rākaihautū, buried his famous kō (digging tool). The new site would allow the school to return home.
The land had been owned by the local council since 1913, and in 2024, Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke went through the process of buying it, which was unanimously agreed to by the council.
If the proposal is approved by the Ministry of Education, the school hopes to run a dual-site model, a city-site, and the Diamond Harbour site. Under the proposal, the hapū would lease the land back to the Ministry for Education.
But the school's leadership is not holding out hope, as out of the 10 options presented by the Ministry, Parata-Takurua said nine focused solely on fixing up the current buildings.
"The current buildings being a temporary site that we never ever envisaged that would be the permanent home for our pā wananga. It completely ignored all the work we'd done on the site in Diamond Harbour."
In a statement, Jerome Sheppard from the Ministry of Education acknowledged the concerns raised by Te Pā o Rākaihautū.
"We have been working with them to ensure that all students and staff have access to safe, warm and dry facilities. That is why we continue to work with Te Pā o Rākaihautū to finalise a scope that will allow for investment in the redevelopment of the existing site, which will include a mixture of new and existing buildings to support up to 350 students."
Sheppard said that many schools throughout New Zealand operate from ageing building stock.
"These buildings can and are being successfully maintained and upgraded to support learning, and we are confident we can achieve the same with the property for Te Pā o Rākaihautū.
"We continue to work closely with Te Pā, within the current fiscal environment, to make sure their provision reflects the importance of Kaupapa Māori Education," Sheppard said.
Parata-Takurua said treatment of Te Pā feels like racism to her.
"I've yet to be persuaded that it's something else."
She said she feels there are "elements of ignorance and arrogance" from the ministry, leading to the dismissal of Māori-medium education's proven success.
The Ministry of Education did not wish to respond to the school's comments regarding perceived racism, ignorance, or arrogance within the ministry when contacted by RNZ.
"I'd like to invite people to come and spend a couple of days in our shoes and see what that 'privilege' looks like. That privilege looks like this. We're still in old broken buildings, and now we're being pushed down a path of 'accept this or it could be nothing."
According to the Ministry of Education, Budget 25 allocated $544 million for growth (including roll growth, new schools, and learning support roll growth), of which $50m is earmarked for Māori Medium Education/Kaupapa Māori Education. Kura make up approximately 6 percent of schools nationwide.
Parata-Takurua said it means only one or two kura might get lucky with new builds each year, while others must "scrape it out of wherever they can find some loose change".
The property challenges Te Pā is facing are felt by the tamariki and their whānau too.
Kay-Lee Jones is a māmā of three children who attend or have attended Te Pā. She feels the whole situation is "inequitable".
"All around Ōtautahi, especially post-earthquakes, we had all these very fancy schools being established here, there, and everywhere, and our kids see this, and it's disheartening."
She said she worries about the well-being of the staff and students.
"Our kids, they don't deserve this."
Jones shares the example of her son Wi, who was around nine years old when discussions about the need for new school buildings first started. Now at 17 and about to graduate, he will never see any improved facilities. She worries the same might happen with her nine-year-old child as well.
In 2013, the government announced the Christchurch School Rebuild (CSR) programme, with the aim to replace or repair 115 earthquake damaged schools in Christchurch over the following 10 years. As of March this year, 100 schools have been completed, 11 schools are under construction, and three schools are in the planning and design stages. As Te Pā o Rākaihautū was not established until 2014, its redevelopment or rebuild is not within the scope of the CSR programme, according to the Ministry of Education.
Tahau said the health and safety challenges have been more than frustrating.
"We already know what works. We're acknowledged for it, so get out of the way.
"Get on the waka or get out of the way. Because, pono katoa mātou ki tō mātou kaupapa (We are all true to our cause)."
Late last week, Parata-Takarua said the school had received another letter from the ministry, which reconfirmed the funding for the "redevelopment" of their current site in Linwood, instead of a custom build at a new site.
Parata-Takurua said it was now left with a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum and had engaged its lawyers.
"For more than a decade, our children have been left in unsafe, cold, damp buildings while 100 other Christchurch schools were rebuilt around us. The ministry's legal responsibilities extend well beyond 'warm, safe and dry'."
A spokesperson for Education Minister Erica Standford said she would not be commenting as it was an operational matter for the ministry.