Whatu mauri sets Marlborough schools’ transformation in stone

The pre-dawn ceremony was a significant milestone for the project.

Significant educational transformation in Blenheim is becoming real for three schools and the community. At a significant milestone ceremony, a mauri stone was laid at the campus and a kaikarakia blessed the site before contractors begin building. 

Iwi spokesperson Peter Meihana said the whatu mauri represented a big step in the building of the new school. 

“Ceremonies such as we had this morning are extremely important. Our community gets to see that a school is not just bricks and mortar. Things have become very real now,” says Peter. 

A group of students from Bohally Intermediate, Marlborough Boys’ College and Marlborough Girls’ College selected the mauri stone from Te Hoiere Pelorus River last year.  

Marlborough Girls’ College principal Mary-Jeanne Lynch explains why the whatu mauri was a significant milestone for Te Tātoru o Wairau, the Ministry of Education’s largest and most complex relocation and rebuild project.  

“Along with iwi, it provided us the opportunity to reflect on those who have come before us and the possibilities ahead for our rangatahi,” she says. 

Marlborough Boys’ College principal John Kendal says being a part of the mauri stone’s journey from Te Hoiere to its new home symbolised the important relationship the schools have with iwi, and the commitment of the schools to deliver strong outcomes for generations of ākonga. 

“The whatu mauri was a good example of the project involving current students who were able to be part of the journey and lead the learning for their peers and teachers around whatu mauri tikanga,” he says.  

Students were part of the journey and led the learning for their peers and teachers around whatu mauri tikanga. 

Multi-stage, multi-year project 

Te Tātoru o Wairau is a multi-year project to locate Marlborough Boys’ and Girls’ Colleges on a shared campus, and relocate Bohally Intermediate School to a new campus at College Park.  

The new campuses will be built in a staged programme of works that is expected to take around six years to complete. The schools will transition into new buildings as they become available over this time. 

Site works will begin soon on an artificial hockey turf on the south-western corner of the colleges’ campus, which has been commissioned by Marlborough District Council.  

Completion of the turf will enable site works to begin on the new intermediate campus at College Park, and on construction of buildings in the central section of the co-located colleges’ campus. 

Read more about how Te Tātoru o Wairau, three strands (kura) woven and working together, is laying the foundations for change in Marlborough(external link).  

The mauri stone was selected from Te Hoiere Pelorus River last year.