A decade of Manurewa Magic: Tumuaki Pete Jones to finish at Manurewa High School

After twenty-one years at our kura and ten as Tumuaki, Pete Jones is moving into a new role within education, continuing to serve and support our community. He leaves Manurewa High School stronger, prouder and more connected, with the Manurewa Magic exactly where it belongs

Kia ora e te whaanau,

Our Tumuaki, Pete Jones, has advised the Board of Trustees that he will be stepping down. His final day with Manurewa High School will be 28 January 2027.

We are proud of him and grateful to him. Pete joined this kura in 2006 as a PE teacher and leaves after leading the largest secondary school in South Auckland for a decade. He moves on to a new role in education, continuing to support our community.

In his own words: "I feel that the time is right for the next generation of leaders to step forward and lead our kura through the mahi ahead, including the introduction and implementation of the new curriculum in a way that works for the community and the rangatahi we serve … I will always be available to support and promote Manurewa High School in any way I can."

What Pete helped build

Ask anyone who has spent time here, and they will tell you about the Manurewa Magic. It is what happens when a school keeps creating opportunities for its rangatahi, its staff, and its community, and keeps aiming high. Pete has been instrumental in building it.

A decade of that Magic has given us:

• A growing kura. More than 2,400 aakonga from 60 different nationalities, and over 300 staff.
• Pathways into real work. The country's largest lead school Trades Academy provider, with a Business Academy, Makerspace and Maara, and the industry, tertiary and community partnerships that open doors our rangatahi walk through every week.
• A curriculum built here, for here. Te Ara o Taawhaki embedded as the lens for every decision we make, alongside a local curriculum designed for our community and the many identity groups within it.
• Care for our people. The largest in-house school lunch programme in the country, because a young person cannot aim high on an empty stomach.
• A campus transformed. A covered turf and a pool with changing rooms. Te Pae Tata. Refurbished A-Block, F-Block, P-Block, S1–4 and the staffroom, with E-Block to come and a Whare Kai underway. More than 1,500 computers and laptops and over 30 interactive screens.

All of it through a measles outbreak, a pandemic, two ERO reviews and two governments, while keeping the school financially healthy and stable.

Manurewa Magic built with us

What Pete built, he built with us, and he is the first to share the credit. In his letter, he gives it to "a diverse, collaborative, dedicated and high-performing senior leadership team and staff who have embraced the changes, and a Board that has been totally supportive".

That generosity is the point. Te Ara o Taawhaki was built with this community and belongs to it. The ManuREWA Way and our values — Respect, Excellence, Whaanaungatanga and Akoranga — are ours. Our kaiako, support staff, whaanau, Mana Whenua and partners fill the kete, year after year. Which is why the magic carries on: our aakonga will keep leaving here happy, confident and proud, with somewhere to go.

What happens next

Appointing the Principal is the Board's responsibility, and we have been preparing for this for some time. The Board has planned a robust process with an independent recruitment consultant alongside us, including a firm commitment to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to holding Te Ara o Taawhaki as a living framework.

For our aakonga and whaanau, the important part is this: nothing changes this year. Pete is with us until the end of January, and teachers, classes, NCEA, teams, groups, and all activities will carry on as planned.

We will keep you informed at each stage, and there will be a proper opportunity to acknowledge Pete before he goes. Our job now is to honour ten years of his leadership, and to appoint the Tumuaki Manurewa High School needs for its next chapter. We will do both.

Piki atu ki te rangi.

Naa maatou noa, naa
The Board of Trustees, Manurewa High School