About+us

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We are a small rural school founded in 1906 and located in the heart of the King Country of New Zealand's North Island. We have a healthy role and are well supported by our community. We have two classrooms split between juniors year 0-3 and seniors year 3-8.

We have a swimming pool, courts, native garden, adventure playground, sports field, two classrooms, a school hall, office/library and staffroom. We have recently upgraded our classooms and put in a carpark to handle the traffic of visitors and supporters through our gates. We have an upgraded water system and fantastic student managed gardens.

Our community has a handful of preschoolers we look forward to welcoming in the future and more on the way!

A peek into our history:

"Far-out experience Matiere is located about 15 kilometres out of Ohura towards Taumarunui.

Don takes a deep breath as he says: "That was another experience all on its own."

The Taylors moved into the Matiere School house in 1954, only a year after electricity arrived in the area. "There was a post office, local hall, bank and the Cosy Club – the Cosmopolitan Club.

"I joined (the club) when I was there early because I wanted to be seen to be participating, but I couldn't afford to go down and buy a beer; didn't have enough money for that."

At Matiere School Don had plenty of kids, but he was the only trained teacher. "There was a roll of 64 – it was a two-teacher school." The Taranaki Education Board had difficulty in finding a teacher for the infant room.

And so began Don's battle to find a qualified infant mistress..."

Text copied from the Puke Ariki museum site @http://www.pukeariki.com/Research/TaranakiStories/TaranakiStory/id/122/title/ups-and-downs-of-rural-schools.aspx