Mount Maunganui Primary School pre-1933

SummaryThe following images relate to Mount Maunganui Primary School for the period prior to 1933 Please note: This article was originally part of Tauranga City Library's 'Tauranga Memories' website (2011-2020). To your right the 'Archived Kete Link', if present, will take you to a snapshot of the original record. Tauranga Memories was made of several focus areas, called 'baskets'. This article was part of the Mt Maunganui Primary Centenary basket. It was first licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 New Zealand License at http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/mt_maunganui_primary_centenary/topics/show/2175. Initially created 29/06/2014, it underwent 2 edit, the last edit being 20/03/2017. Editors included: Tauranga City Libraries staff (Harley Couper). The original article may have included links, images etc that are not present here.DescriptionThe first recorded school at Mt. Maunganui was at Whareroa Marae, opening during 1872 with Mr Oldfield as the teacher, receiving a salary of 100 pounds. By 1906 there were still only four buildings at the Mount, the two Pilot Houses, a Bach belonging to Colonel G. Ward and Mr. Adam's summer cottage (which is still standing today). There were no roads, no fences, just scrub, fern and miles of sand. Later a settlement grew up around the Public Works Department near the present day wharf. It was near this area that the first official school was built and opened in February 1913.

On October 2nd 19 12 J. Farrell, architect for Auckland Education Board, advertised in the Bay of Plenty Times for tenders for a new school to be built at Mt. Maunganui.

On 31st January 1913 the members of Auckland Education Board travelled on the 'Jersey Lily' to inspect the new school buildings at the Mount. It had cost 145 pounds to build and consisted of one classroom with porch, together with shelter shed and toilets. The school opened for the first time in February of that year. Mr. George F Stephenson was appointed the sole teacher on February 6th 1913; it was a temporary appointment. The Tauranga District High School Committee administered the school. This arrangement lasted until 25 April 1917 when a new school district for Mt Maunganui was created.

It cost the Education Board 15 shillings to cart the furniture from the steamer to the school in 1913. By June the outside fences still hadn't been completed and the playground needed levelling. By August a caretaker still hadn't been found so Mr.Stephenson and the children were doing the cleaning. There were 43 pupils on the roll, with 23 of these being primers. Being practically a Public Works school, over its first year the roll fluctuated from 12 - 50.

Lance-Corporal G F Stephenson, killed in action on July 1914. Elder son of Mrs M Stephenson of Ramarama. He went with the Main Body to Gallipoli and afterwards to France. Prior to enlisting he was the teacher of the Mount Maunganui School, Tauranga.

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Photographs