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 area. And our netball court was re-painted and re-sealed in 2024.

We are 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 over the summer months. 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.  We have a great Kapahaka programme with our whole school participating. Other fun highlights include sports days, where we meet up with all the other schools around the island for a fun day. We have dance, netball training, environmental groups (including recycling, rat trapping, school gardens and beach clean ups). We organise both on-island and off-island trips. These have included trips to Wellington to see the Wearable Arts, outdoor pursuits trips to Tongariro, sports trips to Auckland, Noho Marae trips on Aotea and more.

Our school must have one of the most picturesque locations in all of Aotearoa, with the beautiful Mulberry Grove beach just a hop over the fence from the school. We look directly out to the ocean and utilise our location to its fullest, with a range of aquatic activities and environmental projects. Our school is also special in that we are completely off-grid. Our power comes from mainly solar, with a suite of solar panels. We collect all our drinking water from the rain. Waste is composted for our gardens and we try to grow as much as we can in our gardens for our school lunches. Surplus is donated to our community food pantry, out front of the school.

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 panels 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.

Our school is part of the Ministry of Educations Healthy Lunches in Schools programme, and our kids get a delicious free, healthy & hot meal, fruit and snacks every day.