Naenae College

Naenae College is a state coeducational secondary school located in north-central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. The school was opened in 1953 to serve the Naenae state housing development, although the school is located in the modern suburb of Avalon. A total of 736 students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) attend Naenae College as of March 2020.[1]

Naenae College
Address
910 High Street
Avalon
Lower Hutt 5011
New Zealand
Coordinates41.1968°S 174.9414°E / -41.1968; 174.9414
Information
Funding typeState
MottoKia Ihi Kia Maru
Established1953
Ministry of Education Institution no.259
PrincipalNic Richards
Years offered9–13
GenderCoeducational
School roll736[1] (March 2020)
Hours in school day8:45 am–3:05 pm
Houses
Colour(s)Red and Blue   
Socio-economic decile3G[2]
Websitewww.naenae-college.school.nz

History

Construction of Naenae began the late 1940s under Prime Minister Peter Fraser and the First Labour Government. It was supposed to become a "designer community" of suburban state housing. With the raising of the school leaving age from fourteen to fifteen in 1944,[3] the expansion of Naenae and wider Lower Hutt, and the start of the post-World War II baby boom, Naenae College was built to accommodate secondary school students north of central Lower Hutt.

Naenae College was a prototype for a standardised building design to be used at other new secondary schools across New Zealand. The school was built with long two-story wings of classrooms facing onto corridors, constructed with reinforced concrete on the first level and timber above that. However, construction of the so-called "Naenae type school" was too slow and expensive for a large scale building programme, and subsequently the Naenae type was largely replaced with a single-storey all-timber version known as the "Henderson type school". Both types lasted four years before being phased out in 1957 in place of self-contained classroom blocks.[4]

The school opened for instruction at the beginning of 1953. John Russell was principal from 2007 to 2017.[5][6]

Enrolment

Naenae College does not operate an enrolment scheme, so the school is open to enrolment from any eligible student. Its effective service area is central-north Lower Hutt, including the suburbs of Avalon, Belmont, Boulcott, Epuni, Fairfield, Kelson, Naenae and Wingate. However, Naenae College is easily accessible from most of the Hutt Valley, with bus routes to Petone, central Lower Hutt, Stokes Valley and Upper Hutt passing outside the school's front gate,[7][8] and Naenae Railway Station a five-minute walk away.

At the August 2010 Education Review Office (ERO) review of the school, Naenae College had 737 students. The school roll's gender composition was 48% male and 52% female. The school is highly multicultural, with its ethnic composition at the ERO review being 30% Māori, 25% New Zealand European (Pākehā), 15% Samoan, 6% South East Asian, 4% Chinese, 2% Indian, 2% Cook Island Māori, 2% Tokelauan, 2% Fijian, 2% Other Pasifika, and 10% Other.[5]

The school has a socio-economic decile rating of 3G (low-band decile 3), meaning it draws its school community from areas of moderately-high socio-economic disadvantage when compared to other New Zealand schools. The current decile came into force in January 2015, after a nationwide review of deciles following the 2013 Census. Previously, Naenae had a decile of 2F (high-band decile 2).[2]

Notable staff
  • Bruce Murray, international cricketer – served as principal 1981–1988[9]

Notable alumni

References
  1. "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  2. "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. Swarbrick, Nancy (13 July 2012). "Primary and secondary education - Numbers and types of schools". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  4. "Post-primary Schools -- 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  5. "Naenae College Education Review". Education Review Office. 4 November 2010. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  6. Russell, John (December 2017). "This is my final newsletter".
  7. "Stop 8228 -- Naenae College, High Street". Greater Wellington Regional Council. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  8. "Stop 9228 -- Naenae College, High Street (near 899)". Greater Wellington Regional Council. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  9. Romanos, Joseph (26 November 2009). "The Wellingtonian interview: Bruce Murray". The Wellingtonian (via Stuff.co.nz). Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  10. Bourke, Chris (27 November 2013). "Bill & Boyd – Person". Audio Culture: The noisy library of New Zealand music. Digital Media Trust (Simon Grigg, Murray Cammick, Steven Shaw). Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  11. MacDonald, Nikki (19 November 2011). "Brooke Fraser's long road to stardom". The Dominion Post (via Stuff.co.nz). Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  12. "Sir Bob, Gareth Morgan clash over low decile schools". Television New Zealand. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
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