Community invited to cheer next week for first students attending Namahana School

This story was updated and corrected at 10:08 a.m. July 30, 2025.

Namahana School is welcoming its inaugural cohort of 125 students for the 2025-26 school year beginning Aug. 4.

Namahana is a public charter school and the first tuition-free middle and high school for Kauaʻi’s North Shore. Its first year is the culmination of a decades-long effort by the North Shore communities of Koʻolau and Haleleʻa to have accessible post-elementary options closer to home.

Namahana School is a tuition-free Hawaiʻi public charter middle and high school for the North Shore communities of Kauaʻi, and the first public post-primary school for the remote rural communities of Koʻolau and Haleleʻa, which have historically had to commute to Kapaʻa and beyond after grade six.

The school will welcome its first cohort of students in grades seven and eight, and will add a new grade each year until reaching full capacity in 2030.

Its educational model, guided by the international Big Picture Learning network and ʻāina-based learning, emphasizes cultivating deep connections with students’ communities and natural environment to build critical skills that can be applied to solving real-world problems.

The students will be starting their year at a temporary campus at the former Kula School facilities, 4551 Kūpuna Road. The permanent site is still under construction and is located in Kīlauea Town across from the Kīlauea Post Office.

“The clarity of need, high caliber of institution-building, and deeply rooted, multi-year community engagement process led Namahana to become the first charter school in over seven years to be unanimously approved by the Commission in its first round of review,” said Hawaiʻi State Charter School Commission Executive Director Ed Noh. “Namahana addresses a community need that is both urgent and unique. The North Shore of Kauaʻi has no other middle or high school options.”

“In partnership with Big Picture Learning, Namahana is poised to provide a student-driven, globally aligned education that remains firmly rooted in local culture and values,” he continued.

Community members are invited to welcome students Aug. 4 and cheer along Kūpuna Road to the temporary Kula campus. Gates close at 8:30 a.m., and there will be a group photo from 9 to 9:30 a.m. at the permanent school site.

For the historic photo, family and community members are invited to join Namahana’s leadership, which includes Namahana School and Namahana Education Foundation board members, Noh and co-founders of the international Big Picture Learning Elliott Washor and Dennis Littky.

To learn more about the new Namahana Public Charter School and its mission, visit the website at namahana.org.