The following speech, was read on the day of our 150th Anniversary celebrations, held on Friday 20th October at Te Kāpehu Riccarton School. The young leaders - Nargis Qurbanzada, Pesamino Elia and Yohanna Merengngnage, delivered this script with poise and confidence. The script was based on articles and records held in the school archives. Aroha Kingi-Hazel, as tangata whenua, played a significant part - opening the event on behalf of all learners in our school.

Celebrating 150 Years of Excellence

Aroha opened the programme on behalf of students at the school, reciting the school's pepeha, and acknowledged Ngāi Tūāhuriri as the mana whenua of the place in which our school stands.

Ka titiro au ki te pae maunga o Te tihi o Kahukura

Ko Ōtakaro o te awa tata

Ko Ngāi Tūāhuriri te mana whenua o te rohe nei

Nāia tōku mihi

Ko Te Kāpehu toku kura.

Ko Aroha Ann Kingi-Hazel toku ingoa.

It is my pleasure to welcome you all here today.

We wish to thank our Ngāi Tūāhuriri kaumatua for being here today, and acknowledge them as the mana whenua of the place in which our school stands. We acknowledge the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the agreement giving all peoples the right to reside here and the responsibility to honour this treaty.

Nargis - Kia ora koutou katoa to all current and past Board of Trustees members, staff members, students, whānau and esteemed guests - nau mai, haere mai - welcome to our special celebration of history, as we journey back over time to explore the rich and vibrant history of Te Kāpehu Riccarton School, formerly known as Riccarton Primary School.

I'm Nargis Qurbanzada, and I'm joined today by my fellow comperes - Pesamino Elia and Yohanna Merengngnage - and together, we'll take you on a remarkable journey through the last 150 years of our special school's existence.

The rest of the script was delivered by each of Nargis, Pesamino and Yohanna in turn.

150 years is a long time ago! So, let’s start our journey, by going back to the beginning of our school - to the year 1873. This was the year that the first school buildings were established on this site, on land we believe was a passing through point for mana whenua travelling throughout the area. The school opened under the name of Riccarton District School and was very modest, consisting of just 2 rooms for the 78 students, 1 male principal and 2 unmarried female teachers. It is rumoured, that back in the day, female teachers were supposed to be unmarried, and teachers were not allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, visit pool halls or public halls, or get shaved or have hair cuts in barber shops. So, I’m not sure how many of our current teachers would have been allowed to be teachers in 1873!

Both boys and girls attended the school in 1873, although, they were kept separate during break times, each having their own yards, playgrounds, porches and playsheds.

In 1877, the government of the day made primary schooling compulsory for all children, and the 1 to 2 pound annual fees (worth about $300 today) that the school had been charging for children to attend the school, were abolished. The school roll expanded as a result, and children living in the Fendalton, Ilam, Wharenui, Riccarton and Sockburn areas began attending the school. Eventually, Riccarton School was to oversee the establishment and initial running of the Fendalton, Yaldhurst and Sockburn schools. Unfortunately, this school found it increasingly difficult to compete for students alongside these newly built schools, because over time many issues had arisen with drainage problems, hollows forming in the school grounds, difficulty in getting grass to grow, drafty and poorly heated classrooms, unsanitary toilets, lack of suitable playing fields and frequent changes of caretakers!

Our school, since 1873, has been served by 19 Principals, which includes Matua Paul Irving.

The longest-serving of all was Mr English. He was the Headmaster from 1891 to 1922, totalling 31 years. For his efforts, he was given the honour of having School Road, as it was known then, renamed as English Street.

Further significant service has been given to the school by Mr McIntyre, who was Principal from 1963 to 1976, Mr Robin Haberfield, Principal from 1991 to 2007, and Matua Paul, who arrived in 2007 and remains with us today. We also wish to acknowledge the 36 incredible years of service by June Hundleby, who was a teacher and then Deputy Principal from 1974 to 2012.

During the 150 years of mahi from past and present Principals, teachers and support staff, a lot of history has been created.

In preparing for today, we have found minutes from staff and school committee meetings. They have made for some very interesting reading. We will share some snippets now.

In 1883, the Headmaster was forbidden to bring his horse onto the school grounds.

In 1884, the same Headmaster was sacked, because he had helped a student in their examinations.

In 1897, the local swimming club was refused the use of the school pool on Sunday mornings, and they were told they were expected to attend church instead.

In 1907 - the first gardens were planted on site.

In 1908, the school board made a rule that no more than 55 days in a year were allowed as holidays. Thankfully we are allowed at least 64 days now!

In 1924, a library was established and the first 100 books were purchased for the school.

In 1926, the school toilet was repurposed as the school staff room.

From time to time, outbreaks of disease have closed the school community - from diphtheria in 1901 and again in 1918, to Scarlatina in 1923 and infantile paralysis in 1925. And of course, Covid 19 hit the entire world in 2019, and saw the first closures of all New Zealand schools, including ours, in 2020.

A school uniform was introduced in 1947, just after the 2nd World War. The colours were red, black or grey and blue, which were to remain as the school uniform colours right up until our most recent uniform refresh last year.

By 1952, the school had 13 classrooms onsite, with 3 of these being temporary prefabricated rooms. However, these rooms were not enough to accommodate the 552 pupils, with severe overcrowding causing the school to have to stop taking new entrants for a while.

Today, we have a capacity of 15 classrooms, and a development plan for a further 6 should we need them. The roll has fluctuated significantly over time, from the 78 inaugural roll, steady increases were seen until a peak roll of 989 was reached in 1955. In 1980, the number of students in attendance was 315, and our current roll today is very similar at 329

In 1954, a school traffic patrol commenced. We still run a version of this today!

In 1965, the MJ Staunton Challenge Cup was presented for rugby competitions between Wharenui and Riccarton School. We still hold the Staunton Cup challenge every year with Wharenui school. We no longer play rugby, but have added hockey, netball and soccer to the cup challenge.

The famous log climbing adventure playground was built in 1980, and remained fully used and popular, right up until it was demolished in 2021 to make room for the building of our new Te Tūāraki block of classes.

The school pool has a rich history all of it’s own. The initial school baths’ water came from a water race, that further upstream was a source of water for stock including horses, cows and sheep. It frequently brought eels and frogs downstream, who ended up in the baths swimming alongside the pupils! The baths seemed to cause a number of issues along the way, with complaints about local people who were using the pool outside of school hours, bringing soap to wash themselves while having a swim! The first ever crude filtration system was installed in 1929 from a piece of animal bone, so it probably achieved little more than keeping out the eels and frogs! Our current pool was completed in 1980, and a modern filtration system fashioned out of modern materials was added the following year. This is the pool we all still enjoy, with donations from the Riccarton Rotary Club and fundraising allowing for major upgrades over the last 12 years, including new changing rooms, solar heating, a new non-leaking liner, and we look forward to the next project of installing a heat pump, which hopefully will extend the swimming season even further.

Our school community has always been courageous, and committed to achieving the best they can. From the 11 of 12 students sitting proficiency examinations in 1910 passing and being awarded 2 years free secondary education, to the pupils who bravely served in both World War 1 and World War 2, to the pupils who have gone on to become professors and academics in Universities, business owners, Doctors, Dentists, Scientists, Ted Ex Speakers and authors, School teachers and support staff (some even returning as Whaea Mailinoa and Matua Eric have both done), to a current famous All Black - go Richie Mo'unga and the All Blacks!)

Over the last 150 years, every student, staff member and whānau passing through these gates has shown huge resilience, and no less so in the last 13 years as we have faced disruption and stress from earthquakes, the mosque attack and the lockdown of our school and city, to the more recent Covid years, and our online schooling during that time.

The dedication of the staff, the enthusiasm of the students, and the unwavering support of parents and the community have been the cornerstones of our school's success throughout its history. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this wonderful school community, and to everyone who contributes to Te Kāpehu Riccarton School today.

As we celebrate the history of our school, let us also look to the future with excitement and enthusiasm, as to what more will be achieved by our learners and community. We believe the next 150 years will bring even greater achievements as our school continues to grow and evolve.

Thank you all for joining us today. We invite you to chat together over kai later this morning, and share your own memories and experiences of your association with this school.

Te Kāpehu Riccarton School serves a very ethnically diverse community, which makes our school a really vibrant place to be. The richness of culture and languages within our school gives us all an opportunity to develop greater awareness, understanding and tolerance for all the different beliefs and values that we have brought together in our collective school values of Mana, Manaaki, Manawaroa and Manawa Ora.

People of determination founded this school, and it is people who demonstrate Manawaroa who continue to populate it. Our community today is made up of mana whenua and tangata whenua, migrant and New Zealand born refugee families, and migrants from so many different nations, including our migrant and New Zealand born aiga from the many different pacific nations who have been a real backbone of our school over many years too. In more recent years, Filipinos coming to assist the rebuild of Christchurch have become a very significant part of our school, along with the Indian and Sri Lankan families arriving in the last year or so.

It is my privilege to introduce further cultural performances today, following on from the moving performance of our Kapa haka earlier in the programme. The first of the next 3 performances is by a group of our Indian students, who will be performing a dance called Tera Vaaste - giving a modern twist to a traditional dance about love and commitment. This will be led by Whaea Judith.

Our Filipino performers will now take the stage to perform a dance called Ang Sarap Maging Filipino. It’s a dance about having pride in oneself and one’s culture - about being able to stand tall and resilient in the world as Filipinos. This will be led by Whaea Seth.

Students representing our Pacific Nations will now perform a Samoan Siva to a song called Tautai a’e. This song speaks about the value of hard and honest work, the importance of family and your village, and the power of prayer. This will be led by Whaea Mailinoa.

Thank you to all the learners who have represented and showcased their cultures so well this morning. We are now moving into a performance from each of our 3 teaching and learning teams. First up, are the youngest learners of our school - pupils in Years 1-4 in Team Pātītī. They are singing the song ‘Pepeha’ from Aotearoa’s popular Six60 group. This will be led by Whaea Leona.

Students in Years 4-6 in Team Kāpuka will now sing for us. The song is called ‘Somewhere only we know’, which is all about the passing of time and life, in honour of all the life and time that has passed through these school gates. It will feature a solo by Whaea Mailinoa, in honour of her time here as a pupil, when she was known as He’a Mounga. This item will be led by Whaea Judith.

Team Kahikatea, our Year 7 and 8 learners will now sing ‘Count on Me’. This is a song that speaks about being there for others. It is being led by Whaea Adele.

Our final item in our programme today is our whole school performing our school chant, reminding us to stay true to the values of our school, and to stand tall in this place to honour those who have gone before us, and those who are still to come. This will be led by Whaea Mailinoa.

We will now call on Matua Caleb, Whaea Tish and our Kapahaka to bring our formalities to a close and to bless our kai to follow.

Once the blessing has been given, past staff and pupils and special guests are invited to gather in our school hall for morning tea, and all current whānau and family members are invited to gather in the hall for shared kai.