Jeremy Ferguson - Professional Blog: Learn - Create - Share journey with Mercer School

Kia ora koutou,

I am really excited to be supporting Mercer School with their journey of discovery of understanding Manaiakalani. A small school, but one with such a lovely feel to it. Fiona Grant and I were made to feel so welcome on our first visit to the school during the first week of the recent holidays. We had the chance to give the staff an introduction into what Manaiakalani is all about, and some examples of our kaupapa in action.

They have a wonderful staff, led by Paula Faitala, a former member of Senior Leadership at Glen Taylor School in Glen Innes. Paula has been in her role at Mercer for 4 years and has done a brilliant job amercing herself in the local community and history of the local area. In fact, as part of this process, she, along with the Board of Trustees and local haapu, have made the decision to change the name of the school to Te Paina School. Below is the information provided to the local community regarding their decision to change the name.

The letter to the school's community, outlining the context for the name change

It is such a privilege for me to be part of this process of journeying with this awesome school in the process of changing their name. Aotearoa history is a particular passion of mine. During my time studying at Laidlaw, we went for a trip down through the Waikato to visit some of the sites that were central to the Waikato Wars, guided by Tereora Crane, now a Senior Education Specialist with National Library. Starting at Pokeno, our first stop was the Mangatawhiri Stream. "Where's that?", you might be thinking to yourself. Like most, I had never heard of this stream, nor understood its significance to our nation's history. It's under the bridge that you drive over on SH1, just before you get to Mercer. It's not signposted, it's not marked. The vast majority of people will have driven over the bridge without ever knowing what was below them. As it happens, the stream was the mark at which King Tāwhiao (the then Māori King) said to the British forces said to come no further. These forces had already taken land all the way from what is now Māngere Bridge, South. Tāwhiao said that if the forces crossed the stream into the Waikato, that it would be war. They did, and the rest is history.

Standing around in our group on the edge of the stream at Mangatawhiri, Tereora was explaining the significance of this spot to us. "If this were America, there would be a monument, tourist centre and gift shop...". That line is one that I will not soon forget.

From there, we headed further South, working our way down through the likes of Meremere, Rangariri, Te Awamutu and eventually Rangiaowhia. Below is a photo of our group standing in front of the church and urupa at Rangiaowhia. Below is a photo of our group standing outside the church at Rangiowhia.

With regards to Mercer School themselves and their journey to rebranding their school, I am so heartened by what they are doing. This whole idea of name changing, removing statues, etc has been a big one in our society over the last couple of years, and a conversation which I think we should be including our students in. Having spoken to Paula and the other staff at the school, this is something that the school are very much aware of with their journey forwards.

I'm so excited to be part of this process moving forward! Below are some shots of our teacher only day today.

Ngā mihi