Who are we? - Our Vision.

Salford School was first officially opened on 2nd February 1970 with just two blocks of classrooms and a dental clinic at the time.

The third block was built shortly afterwards. We have the (handwritten) notes from these early days in the school along with various other notes and archives.

The name Te Kura ō Ngā Kākano ā Salford was gifted to the school by Murihiku Runaka in December 2024 after community consultation and liaison with Matua, Joe Wakefield.

Joe provided the history of the area of Salford School as below:

The site of Invercargill city today used to be part of a massive indigenous podocarp/swamp forest that was known by our ancestors as ‘Taurakitewaru’. Thomsons Bush Reserve is a small remnant of the original Kahikatea dominated swamp native forest.

The name of our wharenui that stands at Murihiku Marae is ‘Te Rakitauneke’, who was a Kāti Mamoe chief in his time who had a pā or settlement along the southern bank of the Waihōpai River in the vicinity of Thomsons Bush. Hence the spiritual significance and ties to Thomsons Bush and the Waihōpai River.

Te Kura ō Ngā Kākano ā Salford - ‘The seeds of Salford School’. The seeds referring to the children’.

This ‘Whakatauki’ or proverb was also pointed out by Joe as apporpriate for the school to use in connection with the name:

‘Poipoia te kākano, kia puawai’ which translates to – “Nurture the seed and it will blossom”.

The seed being the children and teachers as well as they both continue to grow and develop over time.

The Story of Our Logo

To be a community of learners, empowering our student learners to achieve excellence and make a positive difference to their lives and the lives of others.

Community of learners – This is represented by the iconic Salford people who depict the Salford learners.

Empowering – This is represented by the yellow sun.

Excellence – This was the Mountain Range, which are the Takatimus, visible from our location.

Making a Difference – This was suggested to shorten the actual vision statement. It was felt that students and staff would always be able to articulate the meaning behind the vision statement by adopting the “making a difference” statement. All of the learning we collaboratively plan, teach and deliver is intended to make a difference. Our Inquiry units have a social action that is intended to make a difference to their lives or in the global perspective.

The tree was an umbrella over the learners representing a strong foundation in Literacy and Numeracy;these were identified at community consultation as cornerstones of all learning. The branches and leaves symbolise the personalised learning pathways provided for our students through Inquiry Learning but the foundations of the strong roots of Literacy and Numeracy are essential to achieve this growth.

The green is the reserve that students have developed in a partnership with the Invercargill City Council and borders our school grounds. It represents the sustainability focus of caring for our environment and has been a very successful development now used and enjoyed by the local community on a daily basis.

The blue ocean and the blue river represent the Waihopai river that is bordering our reserve, this is our awa or river. The ocean was the significance of the learning journey we participate in on our pathway to being a citizen of the world. This meant the journey from the mountains to the sea and the future.

The road symbolises the lifelong learning journey that they have embarked upon.