Northland School

Northland School Centennial

War Years

The Second World War, which took place from 1939 to 1945, influenced Northland school considerably. For example, the children had to take many precautions, such as; letters were sent home to parents, to state that in the event of an air raid each child would be put in a party and allocated a teacher. If a raid took place with very little warning, they would use a quantity of sand bags in order to make caves under the concrete wall - a safe shelter for very small children. The sand bags were donated by Mr. H.W Thomas and Mrs. Presley.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must ber obtained before any reuse of this image.

During the war, Northland School was classified as a vulnerable school. 50,000 pounds were donated by the government to primary schools to build air raid shelters. The air raid shelter that Northland School built is still present today, though it is now covered by a mural.

Throughout the war years, the school committee became concerned with the lack of supervision over children after school hours whilst parents were at work. Immediate action had to be taken to guard the children's welfare, as in the future a number of public parks would be occupied by troops.

Sergeant Dennie, leader of the police identification unit, sent many letters to the school committee, asking permission to turn the school basement into a mortuary. But the school refused the offer.

When the war was finally over, the teachers rang the school bell and the children emerged from their classrooms, cheering.