Back in the early 1900s there was a little country school located between the outskirts of Whangarei and Moerewa in the far north. The caption on this photo says: "Children attending Aponga School near Purua in Northland pose outside their small school in the 1890s, their teachers stands in the doorway. At this time most country children left school when they were about 12 years old (form one/year 8) as education cost money and there were very few high schools in rural areas".
What happened to the school? Well an article I found in the Northern Advocate newspaper dated 1919 says this: "Aponga School children have started attending another local school (Ruatangata which is closer to Whangarei) as a result of no teacher being sent forward to take up the teaching duties. Evidently the country childrens education is not catered for reasonably if this sort of thing is allowed to hold good. Some 6 weeks the Aponga School has been closed and nothing definite to hand as to the opening (shortage of teachers is the excuse)."
So sadly back in those days the school closed not only because of a teacher shortage but also students leaving school to work or help families once they turned 12. Very different by today's standards.
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