MEDIA RELEASE For immediate release
HUGE CHANGE FOR WEST AUCKLAND SCHOOL
For the first time in 28 years, students of Te Atatu Peninsula’s Matipo Primary School will be greeted by a new
Principal next term.
Wayne Bainbridge, Matipo’s Principal since 1989, heads into retirement after a highly successful and much decorated
educational career where (amongst other things) he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and was selected as part of the
New Zealand Principals delegation to China.
Wayne Bainbridge's time at Matipo has seen the school climb from the brink of closure, to being identified by the
Ministry of Education in 2014 as the top performing school in Te Atatu, and receiving a glowing ERO report in 2016.
Mr Bainbridge requested not to hold a formal farewell event with the wider community. Instead Wayne held a special
farewell event with the part of Matipo School that has always mattered most to him, the children and staff, at a ‘Bright
and Beautiful’ day. Students wore their most colourful costumes in a parade, performed musical and dance items in the
school hall and enjoyed a disco with their Principal. Mr Bainbridge's outstanding contributions to Matipo have been
honoured with the school Board of Trustees renaming the main school hall ‘Wayne Bainbridge Hall’ this week.
The stewardship of Matipo Primary School will be continued by Mr Paul Wright of Titirangi. A self-proclaimed Westie,
Paul is a highly regarded principal who will begin at Matipo in Term 4, after 13 successful years as Principal of
Clayton Park Primary School in Manurewa.
ENDS