Hukanui   School

Nau mai, haere mai and a heartfelt welcome to Hukanui School.

Hukanui School is a popular, highly successful, dynamic and well regarded learning environment situated in Chartwell, Hamilton.  We have around 800 amazing students and over 60 staff members who are passionate about learning and who help make our school an engaging and exciting place to be.  Our staff, families and whānau come to us from over 50 countries across the globe and this adds greatly to the culture, richness and diversity of our school. 

As the Principal of Hukanui, I am both privileged and humbled to lead such a capable and motivated team. We place great emphasis on the importance of relationships and working in partnership with our community.  Onus is also placed on student wellbeing and learning, and our amazing passionate and dedicated team offers some remarkable support and opportunities for our students. We set high achievement standards for learning, particularly in Literacy and Numeracy and teach to individual needs to help each student to achieve success in these areas. Our school continues to maintain outcomes for learners (ākonga), well above national norms and we work hard to ensure learners achieve personal levels of excellence. We also look to develop in children the skills, competencies and attributes that will help them be lifelong learners.  This is reflected in our Hukanui Heroes and associated Hukanui Learner Profile.

We identify and look to develop the gifts and talents in all our children through innovative programmes, Inquiry teaching, Elective options and a flexible curriculum that provides for personalised learning pathways. We greatly value our partnership with our parents, whānau and the wider community. This is evidenced through our engagement opportunities, success of our Board, PTA, support of our growing Whānau Support Group and the visible impact of this engagement over the last few years. We continue to celebrate learning successes and regularly share our learning with our community and with wider audiences. 

Hukanui School has over many years developed a reputation for innovation, success and for pedagogical leadership. This has been achieved through the work of an exceptional staff, a committed community and through a willingness to grow and keep learning outcomes at the forefront of our thinking. We continue to be a Green Gold Award winning Enviroschool, possessing two state of the art sustainability classrooms and a permanent environmental teacher. We have a combination of flexible learning environments, traditional modern classes, collaborative spaces and specialist support rooms. Our school is also blessed with staff expertise and facilities to support International Students, ELL Learners, Digital Literacy learning, language acquisition and children with associated learning challenges.

Where Hukanui truly excels is in our ability to provide learning and unique opportunities for students to pursue their passions, interests and abilities. Our school currently provides; music tuition, Inquiry learning, a rigorous EOTC programme, sporting facilities rare in a primary context (eg cricket, hockey, netball, soccer, rugby, swimming), environmental spaces, three playgrounds, arts facilities, kapa haka, orchestra, choir, Year 2 - 6 Electives, student leadership programmes and our cultural gardens. 

Our motto ‘Tu Tangata’ literally means “stand tall”. It is based on the philosophy that encourages our young people to stand up and be counted, and take responsibility for their futures. This aligns beautifully to our affiliation with the mighty oak trees and acorns that surround our school (kura) and our aspirations for our ākonga (learners). We also have a Maori proverb (whakatauki) which brings this all together 'He tina ki runga, he tāmore ki raro', which when translated this means 'In order to flourish above, one must be firmly rooted below.  It is our strong belief that through the work, support, nurturing and collaboration of our school, we can grow future leaders who are; connected, communicators, guardians, explorers and nurturers, who will add and contribute to our wider community and beyond.

As our vision states, we really are a  'A leading learning environment maximising people's potential.''  Hukanui is a truly special space and we strongly encourage you to come and see for yourself. We welcome visitors and will happily arrange a time accordingly.

Ngā mihi nui

Leo Spaans

Principal