Our Story

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Before the land was cleared by the early settlers, native bush covered most of the western hills of the Hauraki Plains.  The streams from the valleys emptied into the flat, vast marshlands that would eventually become the Hauraki Plans.

For Māori, the area provided ample food and shelter; consequently between Patetonga and Torehape, there were a total of eight Pa sites in that short distance.

With the arrival of settlers to the area, after the swampland was opened up for settlement, a school was needed.  Mr Tom Cashen on Ohinewai Road offered the use of his wool shed for a school room and so Kaihere School opened 23rd November 1914 with a roll of 20 children.

The following year a corrugated iron building was built so the school could move from Mr Cashen’s woolshed into a purpose built school room on the corner of Ohinewai Road and what is now State Highway 27.

In 1940, due to the old school site having no flat land available for a sports ground, a new site was found just across the road and land was gifted by the mana whenua, the Reidy whānau for a new school site. The new school was officially opened in 1941, giving much improved classrooms for pupils along with plenty of space to play.

In the same year, headmaster Mr McGowan wrote to various places around the world asking for an acorn to be planted on the school grounds. The oaks were chosen as a reminder to settlers of their home country and were carefully grown and planted along the boundary of the new school site. At the same time, native trees were planted on the opposite boundary in the area now used for bush activities on the school grounds. Together the oak trees and the bush serve as a reminder of both the tangata whenua and the settler heritage of Kaihere School.