School History

Summerland Primary opened on January 28 2002 with a roll of 102. By the end of 2009 the roll will be around 600. The original 12 classrooms have now been extended to 24 with another New Entrant class about to open shortly. The teaching staff has grown from 9 to 26 with an ancillary staff of thirteen who help assist the teachers programmes.

Historical

The land on which the school is situated, was owned by Gus Nola, a prominent orchardist of the area. The name Summerland has originated from an export apple grown in New Zealand. The early Croatian settlers are a part of the West Auckland History and most of the Summerland area is based around an orchard theme. Paremuka is one of a number of little streams with headwaters in the Waitakere Ranges that flow into tributaries of the Henderson creek and then on to Waitemata Harbour. The land around the stream was originally swampy and damp with poor soil. Te Kawerau A Maki were the first to live here, building a settlement, Wai Huruhuru, nearby. One of the west coast/east coast portages was also close and the stream’s name is a clue to what brought early Maori most often to its banks Pare – a very white strong variety of flax used for weaving garments such as piu piu. Muka is the white interior of scraped flax; During preparation Maori would scrape the flax with a mussel shell. Early European surveyors described the area as undulating fern land, devoid of large trees. Gum diggers were most likely the first Europeans to use the land as the stream is close to the valley’s historic Kauri Gum Reserve. Peter Babich, whose family vineyard borders the Paremuka stream, remembers the area being half scrub, half vineyard in his youth. As a child he and his brother used the stream as their private playground. Today we see a sprawling suburb with more growth predicted when Babich Wines shuts its doors and is converted to housing. We will also see the opening of the Munro Rd bridge which will se up to 10,000 cars a day through Summerland Drive.