1967 - present

In 1959, a group of parents banded together to provide education for their children who had been denied access to the standard education system due to physical and intellectual disabilities. The group, supported by many local politicians, councils and community members, purchased a house named ‘Windgap’ at Mount Street in Coogee. Over the coming years the group would establish facilities across the Sydney's East including Coogee, Eastlakes and Little Bay. In 1967, with changing attitudes and legislation towards education and people living with a disability, one of these facilities, the Connare Special School, was identified as inadequately resourced and transferred to what was called the Wairoa Special School. Now Wairoa had become a Government funded public school. This new site in North Bondi offered ample school grounds and more appropriate classrooms.

Wairoa has seen many changes since then. In 1972 it gained an outdoor swimming pool. The pool is now a heated indoor facility which maintains physical fitness as an important part of Wairoa's Culture all-year-round. The School also has facilities for a dynamic art and music program as well as a kitchen for imparting life skills and allowing the students to learn cafe services to the broader community. Wairoa benefited from the 2000 Olympics with a storage area being transferred into a gym which is still still in use a physical recreation room.

Today, Wairoa School provides educational programs for students with a moderate to severe intellectual disability and needs related to autism, physical disabilities and/or sensory disabilities. In 2017 it celebrated its 50th year with a 'Walk for Wairoa' and a much-loved Mural celebrating Wairoa's role in the life of Bondi.

Courtesy Wairoa Secondary School.