MULBERRY GROVE SCHOOL
AOTEA GREAT BARRIER ISLAND
Huakina mai te ao - Opening a world of possibilities
NAU MAI, HAERE MAI - WELCOME TO MULBERRY GROVE SCHOOL
Mulberry Grove School is a full primary school catering for children in Years 1 to 8. The school was completely rebuilt on its original site in 2015. It now consists of two collaborative teaching spaces, a library, and community and administration areas. It is a well-resourced school that continues to make very good use of its unique location and the local environment to enhance the curriculum and children's learning.
Mulberry Grove School has an extremely supportive community and active Board of Trustees who value learning and the well-being of all students.
Nestled on the shore of the Tryphena Harbour on Aotea Great Barrier Island, Mulberry Grove School is uniquely situated to make the most of a rich learning environment. Marine and bush ecology is at the heart of what we do. Our students have a wonderful opportunity to participate in sailing, kayaking, waka, snorkeling and swimming in the ocean in collaboration with the S.E.A Education Aotea Charitable Trust. Students can learn second languages online with the Virtual Learning Network, this is also a place where our young people develop the learner qualities, skills and future-focused outlook that will help them enjoy success now and throughout their lives.
Mulberry Grove School is a proud Enviroschool. This is a programme that supports children and young people to plan, design and implement sustainability actions. Some of the environmental initiatives at our school include gardening, rat trapping, the little blue penguin project, recycling, composting & a community food pantry. The children have participated in the Toitu te Ngahere: Art in Schools for Forest Health with Auckland University. We have large solar panlels providing the school with much of its power and we catch rain water into our tanks, all part of living completely off-grid on a remote island. We integrate an environmental focus into many areas of our curriculum, teaching food resilience, kaitiatitanga, caring for our local environment, forests & waterways and the animals and creatures we share our home with.
Inter-school sports days on the island are always so much fun
A summer afternoon treat
Swimming Sports Day is held at our school every year in Term 1
Our annual santa parade float is always a hit
School Gardens
The Mulberry Grove School raised and fenced gardens were completed in 2020 after the school re-opened from lockdown and as a way to gather our community together in a positive way. The school operates a garden to table program where produce from the gardens is used for school lunches. Surplus is made into preserves, shared with families or donated to our community pantry to share with our wider community. The school children are involved in all areas of the garden: from testing soil quality, seed collecting and seed raising, through to weekly alternating gardening groups, weeding, planting, mulching, harvesting, cooking and preserving. The school also operates a community composting system (no meat or fish), where community members are welcome to drop food scraps off to our composts. Our school is part of the Enviro-schools programme and is working towards our Green Gold accreditation.
Our most recent addition to the garden has been our new trellis pergolas and fence, sponsored by Bunnings, who covered the cost of building materials, gardening tools and wheelbarrows. The next stage for our gardens is going to be re-using our old water tanks to create a self irrigation system.
Our fantastic new netball court was re-sealed and painted in 2024
Our lucky students spend the summer months swimming, snorkelling, sailing & kayaking in the waters on our doorstep through our Sea Education programme
Our all new school buildings were completed in 2015
Our fantastic new netball court was re-sealed and painted in 2024
Our beautiful school is right by Mulberry Grove Beach, in the Tryphena Harbour
Our lucky students spend the summer months swimming, snorkelling, sailing & kayaking in the waters on our doorstep through our Sea Education programme
Our all new school buildings were completed in 2015
We have 2 fantastic playgrounds
Painting murals for our local skate ramp
Group art projects
Little blue penguin project, one of our many environmental initiatives that the children are involved in
Visiting with local artists
The kids participate in regular beach cleanups
Tree climbers welcome
Our school is part of the Ministry of Educations Healthy Lunches in Schools programme and our kids get a free healthy hot meal, fruit and snacks every day
Nature on our doorstep
Sailing & kayaking on a sunny afternoon
Annual island matariki event
Office Hours
Our school office is open during the following times:-
Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm
School Timetable
School Begins: 9.00am
Morning Interval: 11.00am - 11:40am
Lunch Break: 1.00pm - 1:40pm
Classes Finish: 3.00pm
2024 Term Dates
Term One
Wednesday 31 January to Friday 12 April 2024
Tuesday 6 February - Waitangi Day Observed
Friday 29 March - Good Friday
Monday 1st April - Easter Monday
Tuesday 2nd April - Easter Tuesday
Term Two
Monday 29 April to Friday 5 July 2024
Monday 3 June - Kings Birthday
Friday 28 June - Matariki
Term Three
Monday 22 July to Friday 27 September 2024
Term Four
Monday 14 October to Friday 13 December 2024
Monday 28 October - Labour Day