Collingwood Area School

Coordinates: 40°40′57″S 172°40′46″E / 40.68250°S 172.67944°E / -40.68250; 172.67944
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Collingwood Area School
Te Kura o Aorere
Waharoa (entrance structure) of school
Address
Map
Lewis Street, Collingwood

7073

New Zealand
Coordinates40°40′57″S 172°40′46″E / 40.68250°S 172.67944°E / -40.68250; 172.67944
Information
School typeGovernment-funded, area school
MottoMāori: Ka eke ngātahi tātou i te ngaru o te angitu
(Together we ride the wave of lifelong success)
Opened1859; 165 years ago (1859)
StatusOpen
Ministry of Education Institution no.290
PrincipalHugh Gully
GenderCo-educational
Age rangeYears 1–13
School roll144[1] (February 2024)
LanguageEnglish
Colour(s)Gold and black
Websitewww.collingwood-area.school.nz

Collingwood Area School (Māori: Te Kura o Aorere) is an area school in the Golden Bay / Mohua town of Collingwood in New Zealand. The school dates back to 1859, when it was founded as Collingwood School. It was known as Collingwood District High School from 1937 to 1978.

History[edit]

The second Collingwood School building in 1889

A few months after the beginning of the 1856 gold rush in Collingwood, parents were already petitioning the Nelson Board of Education for a school to be set up. Collingwood was established as a school district in 1858, and the school was established in 1859 as Collingwood School, at a cost of £150; the head of the school, John Edward Neame, was on a salary of £108, with an assistant mistress on a salary of £24.[2] The school building on Lewis Street was near the site of the present school; the decayed 1859 schoolhouse was replaced in 1880 by a building with an ornamental belfry and large porch.[2]

In 1936, it expanded to include a class for secondary students, with an initial roll of 12, and the following year it became a district high school. In 1978, it became an area school, and undertook a major reconstruction with many new buildings, including a new primary classroom and administration block, at a cost of $265,750.[3] Area schools, found in rural areas of New Zealand, educate years 1 to 13, with teachers able to work with any children in that range.[3]

The school has a roll of 144 as of February 2024.[1] In 2023, the school undertook a $9 million upgrade that included 10 new classrooms, a library, and technology, science and administration buildings, as well as a revamp of the school gym.[4]

School bell[edit]

School photo, 1889
School photo, 1904

The school's original bell was lost in the 1920s. In 1964, Rear Admiral Richard Washbourn, who had close family connections with Golden Bay, bought the bell of HMS Chevron from the Rosyth Dockyard for £8, and donated it to the school the following year. Washbourn wrote at the time that "Collingwood is a very remote little settlement one hundred miles from the nearest town and it will do the young good to have some reminder of the world outside.....even if that reminder only serves the mundane purpose of calling them to their studies".[5]

Notable staff[edit]

Principals[edit]

The following is an incomplete list of headmasters and principals of Collingwood School, Collingwood District High School and Collingwood Area School.

No. Name Term
1 John Neame 1859–1861[3]
Francis O'Sullivan 1869–1875[2]
Ezra Brook Dixon 1875–1876[7]
Edward Canavan fl. 1878[8]
Joseph William Humphreys fl. 1880[9]
Mr Anderson fl. 1885[10]
Alfred Thomas White 1898–1903[11][12]
Herbert Basil Score Sanders 1904–1911[13][14]
Hollis Hill ?–1934[15]
Arthur Osborne Stanley 1936–1939[16][17]
George Henry Ralph 1939–1948[18][19]
James A. Hook 1948–?[20]
Janelle Mckenzie 2014–2016[21]
Caroline Gray 2016–2018[22]
Hugh Gully 2019–present[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Win, Cheryl; Isbister, Sandy (2009). Collingwood Kids: 150 years of learning. Collingwood: Collingwood Area School. ISBN 978-0-473-14699-3.
  3. ^ a b c "A Brief History of the School" (PDF). Collingwood Area School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ^ Jones, Katy; Ridout, Amy (11 December 2018). "$30 million announced for three schools at the top of the south". Stuff. Archived from the original on 13 November 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  5. ^ "HMS Chevron's bell". 17 July 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Mr P. T. E. Woollaston: 'Open, democratic government needed'". The Press. 10 November 1981. p. 20. Archived from the original on 31 January 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024 – via PapersPast.
  7. ^ "Ezra Brook Dixon: pioneer settler at Paynes Ford, Takaka Valley". Nelson Historical Society Journal. 6 (5): 23–24. 2002. Archived from the original on 20 March 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Collingwood". The Colonist. Vol. XX, no. 2333. 8 January 1878. p. 3. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Education Board". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. XV, no. 218. 5 November 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Annual report of the Inspector of Schools laid before the Nelson Education Board, January 8th, 1886". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. XX, no. 13. 16 January 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Education board". The Colonist. Vol. 42, no. 9342. 30 November 1898. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  12. ^ "untitled". Golden Bay Argus. Vol. 9, no. 18. 1 October 1903. p. 4. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  13. ^ "untitled". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. 38, no. 96. 23 May 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Personal". The Colonist. Vol. 53, no. 13028. 11 February 1911. p. 2. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Teacher's appeal". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. 66. 5 October 1934. p. 5. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Education board's monthly meeting". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. 70. 16 December 1936. p. 3. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  17. ^ "Westport notes". Grey River Argus. 20 September 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Personal". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. 73. 17 October 1939. p. 4. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  19. ^ "New school for Charleston". Grey River Argus. 22 April 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Buller district schools". Grey River Argus. 29 May 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  21. ^ Persico, Christina (25 May 2017). "Coastal Taranaki principal resigns suddenly". Stuff. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  22. ^ a b Jones, Katy (25 January 2019). "Long serving Nelson principal accepts new role in Golden Bay". Stuff. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.