Apii Potiki Te Uki Ou

Kia Orana,

We are Tiahuia and Anthony, students of Apii Te Uki Ou and we have interviewed Jessie Sword about the history of Apii Te Uki Ou Pre-School.
Apii Te Uki Ou Pre-School started in 1993 and originated in Lauren Parkinson’s garage in Arorangi/Betela. Pre-School was built before Primary, and you are probably wondering why we started Pre-School and this is why.

We started Pre-School because there weren’t many schools teaching in a good environment and also Bahai Faith encourages kids to learn.

From Lauren Parkinson’s garage, Pre-School decided to move because it was growing larger and larger and there wasn’t enough room. They moved to the Mormon Church.

Kids were growing and getting too big for Pre-School so then I went to The Education Department and asked if we could build a Primary School and they said yes. So Pre-School was built before Primary, Apii Te Uki Ou has moved 5 times and now we have finally settled on the sea side of Ngatangiia.

In Ngatangiia, Pre-School has a bird painted on it. It’s called a kotaa and I thought it would be very interesting if I told you why the bird is there.
The bird is our school symbol and our motto is AKARA KI MUA which means looks forward, also it means looking towards the future.

Kia Orana e Kia Manuia