Our school moved to our new site in January 2016 with 4 Learning Hubs. The following year, two more hubs were added due to exponential growth.

These buildings have won architectural design awards, due to the innovative and creative use of space and materials. The playground has a wonderful rural view and feel. We also have a satellite from the Ferndale Specialist School on-site, adding to our identity and richness.

At the time of moving to the new school site, our school engaged with representatives from Te Ngai Tūāhuriri Rūnanga centred at Tuahiwi. This included ideas and considerations for detailed design and naming for schools on the wider ‘Eastern Frame’ of Ōtautahi as it relates to mana whenua. This process aimed to recognise their relationship with the Mana Whenua while providing relevant information on their historical relationship to the area. Through this process, Marshland School was granted the name Te Rito Harakeke.

Harakeke is one New Zealand’s most distinctive native plants and is commonly found in lowland wetlands, along rivers and in coastal areas, such as Marshland. Due to Harakeke leaf pliability, colour and fibre, it is the principal weaving plant used to make Korowai, a traditional woven Māori cloak. The Korowai is worn as a mantle of prestige and honour. The name Korowai is symbolic of leadership and includes the obligation to care for the people and environment. See the example below.

Korowai are adorned with the feathers of native birds. This is why our Learning Hubs are each named after native birds e.g. Kiwi, Pūkeko, Tūī, Korimako, Toroa and Pīwakawaka. Our houses/whare, assigned to tamariki when starting school, reflect our cultural narrative and Māori cloak. These are Korowai, Harakeke, Whītau and Kahu Kiwi.

Te Rito Harakeke

Te Rito Harakeke also reflects the symbolism of the harakeke (flax) plant, representing Māori whānau (family). The rito (shoot) are tamariki. It is protectively surrounded by the awhi rito (parents). The outside leaves represent the tūpuna (grandparents and ancestors). This symbolism is reflected in our school’s commitment to partnering with whānau to ensure success for every child.

Our School Mural

Our school developed a mural to depict our Cultural Narrative in 2024, with funding provided through the Creatives in Schools Project. This involved Year 1-8 students learning about our cultural narrative and creating art to depict the distinct flora, fauna and native bird feathers that have significant to the school's local envionrment and name - Te Rito Harakeke. Following this, 20 Year 7-8 students were identified to work with two mural artists, Nick Lowry and Reuben Woods to create mural panels.

The mural panels drew inspiration from the Year 1-8 student art and wove together student learning related to Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum, particularly understanding Māori history within the context of culture and how this enhances people's collective and diverse identity. This learning included learning about how Urban Art strengthens collective identity and unity.

We engaged with representatives from Te Ngāi Tūhaūriri Rūnanga centred at Tuahiwi to ensure our mural reflected our cultural narrative from a Te Ao Māori perspective and the schools relationship to Mana Whenua.

The mural will continue to be used as a visual tool to support future teaching and learning related to our cultural narrative, history and school name.

Mural Description

The description developed by Reuben Woods and Nick Lowry to accompany the mural is included below.

The central concept of the mural is the sense of community at the heart of Te Rito Harakeke - Marshland School. It will serve to provide both a manifestation of the school's cultural narrative and a vibrant backdrop for a prominent welcoming point – with the potential to host performances and gatherings.

The composition is built around a linear group of panels, flanked at each end by familiar harakeke and a soaring Toroa, which are cut out and extend beyond the framing of the panels. The six panels represent the school’s studios and therefore the different age groups within the school community. Each panel is the same height, giving a sense of equality. Each also features the bird from which Learning Hubs are given their name - the Kiwi and Pūkeko, the youngest students are central, flanked by the increasingly senior Tūī, Korimako, Kōtare and Toroa. Notably, the seventh studio, Pīwakawaka, is included throughout the panels, evoking inclusion and the goal of success for every student, while also suggesting inquisitiveness and exploration. This arrangement suggests the guidance and protection given by older students towards younger, newer students. The Toroa, representative of the school’s most senior students, is placed to the right, taking flight in the direction of the world beyond the school campus, as they prepare to graduate and take on new challenges - exemplary for those who follow in their footsteps (such as the kahu kiwi who stay to the forest floor).

The birds are depicted in various poses and scales, creating visual variety and interactions with the suggested backdrops. The harakeke on the left utilises the school’s logo and colours and frames the detailed panels within the composition – echoing the concept of protection provided by the outer leaves of the harakeke as the kaimahi (staff), awhi rito (parents) and the tūpuna (grandparents and ancestors). This framing device ensures the mural considers the wider community (hapori) as part of the school’s whānau.

The panels, which employ both patterned and atmospheric backgrounds, reflect both the habitats of the birds and the surrounding environment of Marshland School – from the sky to the to the wetlands. A variety of colour fields are representative of sunrise and sunset and diverse environments. Within the colour field elements, recurring patterns and pictorial aspects add further meaning.

Silhouettes of birds suggest community and the student body, and native flora and fauna, notably the harakeke buds in the Korimako panel and the forest in the Kiwi panel, evoke our surrounding world and the necessary care for the environment, echoed in the birds’ habitation of shared landscapes. Other elements include woven harakeke and a korowai. Harakeke and korowai are central to the school’s cultural narrative, unifying many elements. Weaving is a living art and vitally symbolises the survival of Māori culture. The Korowai, made up of the feathers of birds (and hence echoed in the studios as a collective), suggests leadership and the obligation to care for the people and environment.

Toi Māori designs signify the weaving together of perspectives, priorities, ideas and stories that bind us together. The Korimako panel incorporates a takitoru pattern to reflect Aotearoa whakapapa, community, connection and culture, it also represents two-way communication, significant for ākonga as they start to express themselves with growing knowledge. The Pūkeko panel features woven harakeke in reference to the takitahi design, with the simple over/under weave suggesting the robust pattern used in kete for raranga.

As ākonga grow, their skills will develop, just as weavers’ patterns can become more complex as they develop. The central Kiwi panel uses the purapura whetū pattern, speaking to connection and the affection between people. The reference to tree lashings symbolises the kaupapa of embracing visitors as whānau, while also representing the stars and the great numbers of people of a nation. These aspects speak to the kura’s increasing wider whānau, including those ākonga joining the Kiwi studio, who are welcomed and embraced, supported by the older students.

The Kōtare panel incorporates the niho taniwha pattern, the triangle shapes represent strength and stability, while the repetitive aspect suggests whakapapa, stories, histories, and myths passed down over time. This element reflects the ākonga who are growing into strong members of the school community, flourishing and emerging as leaders within the kura. Finally, the Toroa panel employs the aronui pattern to refer to the pursuit of knowledge about the natural world – a fitting connection with the senior ākonga who are preparing to spread their wings and explore the world beyond the school, growing their knowledge in new environments.

The placement of the work with a stretching horizontal form and the cut-out elements that extend in new directions (both towards and away from the campus) will enliven the large wall end and provide a vibrant focal point for ākonga, whānau and visitors, while also allowing ākonga to identify themselves within the mural as they develop and evolve throughout their time at the kura, embracing the varied roles of each age group.