Principal takes school ‘home’

Cyclone Pat may have demolished the Seventh Day Adventist’s Tekaaroa School on Aitutaki,but that wasn’t a good enough reason for school principal Naomi Henry to stop educating.

In fact, the devoted teacher opened up her home in Amuri to continue teaching her students while fellow SDA parishioner John Vano opened his home for the older students.

The small school of 77 students in the village of Ureia was left in a pile of rubble by cyclone Pat on February 10 and on Monday 15 the students were back into full on learning – albeit at two separate homes.

Preschool and grade one students have their lessons at Henry’s home while the older students in grade one to six hold their lessons at John Vano’s home in Arutanga.

With just a small roll of students and no classrooms, suggestions were made that the school should be closed down for good.

But a defiant Henry said that she will never close the school.

She said that meetings with the SDA mission have been held on future plans for the school and the decision has been made that the school will be rebuilt.

“But I don’t know when this will happen,” said Henry.

“But we will continue schooling for the sake of our children.”