A mural which shows the whakapapa of the East Gore area has been painted on a wall at the school by Milton artist Alice Muir.
The mural was a joint project with Hokonui Rūnanga, which gave advice on what should be painted.
Principal Wendy Kitto said the project had taken about two years to complete.
‘‘We’ve been thinking about how we can tell the story of East Gore, where we sit within the Gore region.’’
There are four panels.
In the first panel a Māori wind instrument refers to the lament O Nuku.
Weka sang the lament when he returned to East Gore after a hunting trip where he had left his wife Nuku and child to find they had perished in a snowstorm.
O Nuku is a terrace in East Gore where Weka composed the lament after burying his family.
The next panel shows the Waikaka Stream and the food sources there, the third the fish found in the Mataura River and the last panel shows the Hokonui Hills and the taniwha Matamata.
A white circle with the school’s name inside sits between the Waikaka Stream and Mataura River panels.
‘‘We are nestled between the Waikaka Stream and the Mataura River and there is a circle on the wall that represents us.
Hokonui Rūnanga kaitoko mātauranga Jo Brand said the mural told more than just the Māori history of the area and elements such the gold mining in the area were also represented.
‘‘What I really love is we’ve got multiple history cultures going on in these murals,’’ she said..
‘‘It’s all about us.’’
It had started a learning journey for the pupils, who started asking questions about the elements in the mural.
Ms Muir had done a ‘‘fabulous’’ job of the mural, Ms Brand said.
Pupil Javanee Ramage, 10, said she had helped with some of the painting on the wall.
She thought Ms Muir was a talented artist.
‘‘I like how everything is nice and recognisable.’’
