Invercargill Middle School

We build the sense of genuine community by using the concepts laid out in the Tātaiako document (2011):

Wānanga: participating with learners and communities in robust dialogue for the benefit of all learners’ achievement.

Whanaungatanga: actively engaging in respectful working relationships with learners, parents and whānau, hapū, iwi and the wider community.

Manaakitanga: showing integrity, sincerity and respect towards beliefs, language and culture.

Tangata Whenuatanga: affirming learners as a part of their ethnic group. Providing contexts for learning where the language, identity and culture of learners and their whānau is affirmed.

Ako: taking responsibility for their own learning and that of other learners.


The school name
Initially the school name was Invercargill Grammar, it then changed to Invercargill Central and then to Invercargill Middle School, representing the Middle of town.

The name “Te Kura o Te Puna Wai Ora” was given to our school by kaumatua Riki Cherrington. It comes from the fresh water spring that runs under the area around our school. The people used to stop here to rest on their travels between nga wahi pounamu and nga motu titi.

The name also refers to education and the water of life and our children as the future.

“Tou kaha ra ki te mau te matauranga kia puta atu ki waho atu I tou kura, ka tika ena korero e koo Te Kura o te Puna Wai Ora-Invercargill Middle School