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Who We Are

Turitea School is a semi-rural school less than 10 minutes from Palmerston North City Centre. Established in 1895 and now neighbour to Massey University. Our roll has ranged from 30 students to around 170. Turitea children are encouraged, challenged and extended to achieve their full potential academically, physically and socially. We focus on developing children’s knowledge and skills to help them become confident and informed citizens.

Educating our tamariki is a shared responsibility between the school and the home so the more we share about what we are trying to achieve, the more effective we will be in helping our children learn and grow. Turitea School belongs to us all, so let’s work together to make it the best kura we can for our children.

Turitea School extends a warm welcome to our incoming students. We look forward to working with you and to including you as part of our whānau. We want you to know that the doors are always open at Turitea School.

School Values

At Turitea, our relationships and work are based on our shared values of mātauranga, whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, and kaitiakitanga.

Mātauranga
We value knowledge, learning and creative problem solving. We take responsibility for our learning through setting goals, trying our best, and using our initiative. We persevere in challenges and take risks. We develop our confidence, self-esteem and consistency through our learning.

Whanaungatanga
We value positive relationships and communication with each other. We nurture our relationships by working together, and by being honest and conscientious. We are reliable and take responsibility for our actions and choices.

Manaakitanga
We value, support, and care for each other. We show manaaki through respect for ourselves, for others, and for our diverse school community.

Kaitiakitanga
We value guardianship by respecting the school and wider environment. We display kaitiakitanga through active responsibility for the environment, respecting the property of others, and by taking responsibility for our belongings.

Whakapapa o Turitea

The Turitea district on which Turitea School stands was originally part of the Upper Manawatū block comprising 250,000 acres, which the Rangitāne iwi sold to the Wellington Provincial Government in July 1864.

The provincial government surveyed and auctioned the block, which includes land on which Palmerston North City stands as well as land between the Turitea and Kahuterawa Streams where the school is located. The school’s founders named Tiritea School after the local area. In 2017, we corrected the school name from Tiritea to Turitea School to ensure consistency with the traditional name of the area and landmarks in the school district, and to acknowledge the historical association of the mana whenua with Turitea.