Our History
Located in Naenae, Lower Hutt, only 30 minutes drive from the nation’s capital, Wā Ora has been educating children using the Montessori philosophy for 30 years. While the Montessori method of education has not changed over time, the physical environment at Wā Ora certainly has.
Over this time Wā Ora has grown in stages.
Wā Ora was established in 1988 by a small group of passionate parents with a vision and began its existence with one preschool class, followed a term later by a class of eleven students aged 6-9 years, making it the first Montessori primary school in the Hutt Valley. Soon after this it added an ‘intermediate’ aged 9-12 primary class.
As Wā Ora’s roll swelled, and still more class rooms were added, the idea of adding a high school came into being. After much effort and commitment, this time by another group of dedicated parents, the adolescent programme was established in 2009 with the college programme following on in 2012.
Continual renovations and expansion have provided wonderful new and modern learning spaces, both indoor and out, for Wā Ora students at all stages of the school.
These monumental changes over the school’s history now allow a family to choose Wā Ora as the sole provider for all the educational needs of its children, from 18 months through to 18 years of age and as a state integrated school, Wā Ora is able to offer an authentic Montessori education to its students more affordably than anywhere else in the world.