The gifting of our name

In 2020 with the build of the new school, Ngāi Tūāhuriri gifted the name ‘Ngutuawa’ to what was known as Bamford School. Ngutuawa means the river mouth or estuary. It was gifted because ‘ngutu’ refers to the entrance of a marae; ngutuawa refers to the narrowing of the river. This is particularly relevant to where the school is situated as the river narrows on our back doorstep.

Whakarāpopoto (Background) 

Ngutuawa school is situated in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch and is surrounded by many culturally significant sites for mana whenua, including mahika kai areas.

Bamford School’s name came from Henry Bamford, a lawyer and second president of the Woolston Library. He was a resident on Bamford Road back in 1887 (Christchurch City Libraries, 2002). Bamford School was built around 1970 for children Year 1-8 students.

The naming of the school buildings

When naming our kura and the classrooms, Ngāi Tūāhuriri considered; the school vision, the landscape and sites surrounding the school (pre-European contact) and associated flora and fauna.

The names of the school buildings tell a story of the life cycle of īnaka (whitebait) as they spawn in the awa (river), get washed out the ngutuawa (mouth/estuary), hatch at sea and then use the moons to time their entry back through the ngutuawa and upstream to start the cycle again.

Īnaka live and swim in shoals, relating to the concept of community. Īnaka show great resilience, strength, grit, self-belief and mātauranga as they re-enter through the ngutuawa with the help of the marama (moon). They fight the swift currents pushing against them and spend their lives swimming upstream.

These are the skills we want our Ngutuawa learners to leave with at the end of their 8 years with us.