Te Kura Maori O Porirua saved for eight years to buy its school van, which has now been torched in a suspected arson overnight that also damaged two classrooms.
The full immersion school north of Wellington has a school roll of 252 pupils, who are due to return soon for the first term of the year.
Principal Sophie Tukukino said she was called out to the school about 1.30am on Tuesday to find the school van ablaze.
The fire also damaged some nearby classrooms, and a staffroom wall.
The van was parked on a covered walkway on the school grounds, and Tukukino said she was saddened it had been targeted. It was used to ferry pupils to activities and the library.
“We were really proud of being able to purchase it. It cost a lot of money – it was a big investment for the school.”
Safety glass on classroom windows appeared to have prevented the fire spreading further, as they withstood the heat and did not burst.
“We’re fortunate that there was very little wind last night,” Tukukino said.
It looked to her as if someone had tried to break into the van first.
The suspicious fire was not the first at the school. In 2006, two deliberately lit fires destroyed four classrooms in the new entrants block.
That arson turned out to be the handiwork of culprits “with nothing to do”, Tukukino said.
The school had received support from the police, the Fire Service and Ministry of Education. It was insured and hoped to be able to replace the van and repair the damage to the buildings.
Porirua Fire Station confirmed its night shift firefighters attended the callout, which had been recorded as suspicious and required four fire engines to quell.
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