Manukura is a co-educational designated character school for Year 9 to 13 students. It is based at Massey University in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, New Zealand. It is effectively a sports academy specialising in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

students. The school was founded in 2005 and was originally known as Tū Toa. The school has programmes in

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and rugby sevens.

Yvette McCausland-Durie Yvette McCausland-Durie is a New Zealand netball coach and former netball player. As a player, she played for Western Flyers during the National Bank Cup era and represented New Zealand at under-21 level. She was a member of the New Zealand te ...

was a co-founder of the school, and is also a member of its board of trustees.

Location

Manukura is based at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It was originally based at the

Hokowhitu Hokowhitu is a riverside suburb of the New Zealand city of Palmerston North, with some of the highest property values in the city. The Palmerston North Teachers' College was built in Hokowhitu in the 1960s. Massey University took over the college ...

campus. However, in August 2018 the school was awarded $20 million by the New Zealand Government to build a new school at the Manawatū campus. A further $11.6m of funding was announced in 2021.

History

Tū Toa

Tū Toa was founded in 2005, opening with just with 10 students and was originally a

correspondence school Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

. Its founders included Yvette McCausland-Durie, her husband, Nathan Durie and Dr Ra Durie. McCausland-Durie had previously taught in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and at

Palmerston North Girls' High School Palmerston North Girls' High School is a secondary school for girls, located in the suburb of West End in the city of Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location The main entrance of the school is located on Fitzherbert Avenue, near the Victoria ...

. Nathan Durie was a deputy head at St Stephen's College, Auckland, and had previously taught at

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gi ...

and

Palmerston North Boys' High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

. His brother, Dr Ra Durie, specialises in

sports medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the ...

. The trio were frustrated with the underachievement of Māori students and wanted to try something new. By 2009, Tū Toa had a roll of 25. 2005 also saw the establishment of the Tū Toa Charitable Trust, chaired by the brothers' uncle, Mason Durie, to oversee the governance of the school.

Manukura

By 2013, the parents, teachers and school stakeholders at Tū Toa had become divided on "philosophical differences" about how the school was managed. This saw Dr Ra Durie leaving the Massey University campus and establishing a separate school, Tai Wānanga Tū Toa, in Aokautere. Meanwhile,

and Nathan Durie, along with other members of the school's education leadership, stayed at the original

site and reformed as Manukura. The Tū Toa Charitable Trust aligned itself with Manukura.

Sports

Netball

Netball was the school's founding sports programme and

was its original head coach. Since 2005, the school has entered teams in local, regional and national competitions. These include the Lower North Island Secondary School Netball (LNISSN) competition, the Lion Foundation New Zealand Secondary School Tournament (NZSS) and Netball Manawatū competitions. Tū Toa won the LNISSN Tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and were runners-up in 2008. At the NZSS Tournament they finished third and fourth respectively in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 they finished third and in 2008 they were placed fifth. In 2009, McCausland-Durie guided Tū Toa to their first NZSS title, In the grand final they defeated Mount Albert Grammar School 34–33. They were subsequently named the 2009 Māori Sports Team of the Year. In 2011, McCausland-Durie guided Tū Toa to their first Netball Manawatū Premier title. In the grand final at

Arena Manawatu Central Energy Trust Arena is the current name of the 180,000 square metre publicly owned recreational complex just west of the Palmerston North city centre in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. It has three linked indoor stadiums ...

they defeated Rāhui 46–38.

Rugby union

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

was introduced at Tū Toa in 2011, starting with one under-15 boys team. In 2015 the school introduced their first ever girls rugby union team. The girls' rugby programme began with 12 girls playing in a 10-a-side competition. In 2017

Kristina Sue Kristina Sue (born 13 March 1987) is a New Zealand rugby union, rugby league and touch rugby player. Biography Sue has represented New Zealand in all forms of rugby at a national level and is considered a quadruple rugby international. She re ...

was appointed head of the girls rugby programme. She subsequently led the Manukura girls 1st XV to a national top four final in just her first year of coaching.

Basketball

A boys'

team was introduced in 2015 and a girls' team was added in 2017.

Notable alumni

;Netball *

Te Amo Amaru-Tibble Te Amo Amaru-Tibble (born 11 May 1989) is a New Zealand netball player who has had three spells playing for Central Pulse. She first played for Pulse between 2009 and 2011, during the ANZ Championship era. In 2016 and 2017, she had a second ...

;Rugby union * Charmaine Smith * Ere Enari *

Manaaki Selby-Rickit Manaaki Selby-Rickit is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for the Bay of Plenty Steamers in the National Provincial Championship competition. He is the son of former All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonl ...

* Otere Black

Notable coaches

;Netball *

;Rugby union * Janna Vaughan *

References

External links

Manukura on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manukura Massey University Schools in Palmerston North Secondary schools in Manawatū-Whanganui Māori schools in New Zealand Sports academies 2005 establishments in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 2005