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Whanganui Collegiate School

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Coordinates: 39°55′44.51″S 175°2′15.48″E / 39.9290306°S 175.0376333°E / -39.9290306; 175.0376333
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Whanganui Collegiate School
The school and chapel in 1912
Address
Map
Liverpool Street, Whanganui, New Zealand
Coordinates39°55′44.51″S 175°2′15.48″E / 39.9290306°S 175.0376333°E / -39.9290306; 175.0376333
Information
TypeState integrated
Day & Boarding
MottoVestigia Nulla Retrorsum (Never A Footstep Back)
DenominationAnglican
Established1854; 171 years ago (1854)
Ministry of Education Institution no.192
HeadmasterWayne Brown[1]
Years9–13
GenderCoeducational
School roll446[2] (November 2024)
Socio-economic decile9Q[3]
Websitewww.collegiate.school.nz

Whanganui Collegiate School is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican church. The school is the third oldest in New Zealand and its campus is registered as a category 1 historic place with Heritage New Zealand.

History

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The school was established in 1854 as the Native Industrial School by the Anglican Church from a land endowment from Sir George Grey.[4] The school developed on this site but had low enrolment, with only 30 students in the early 1870s. In 1878 the school changed from allowing female enrolment to a boys school. In the 1880s the Cantabrigian Reverend Bache Wright Harvey was made headmaster. Under Harvey's tenure the school adopted the English public school model. Despite the school originally being established for the 'the education of children of our subjects of all races and of children of poor and destitute persons' the change was supported by most including Sir George Grey. In 1882, under Harvey, the name of the school was changed to Wanganui Collegiate College[a][5]

Until 1901 the school was the only form of secondary education in Whanganui for boys. Wanganui College School was made exempt from the 1903 Secondary School's Act due to its affiliation with the Anglican Church. The school became a private school using endowment to fund itself. During this period it attracted students from outside the town, who would board at the prestigious school. The school's prosperity led to an investigation in 1906 by the Education Trust Commission on whether the terms of the land grant were being abided. This investigation resulted in the school plan to move from its residential location on Victoria Avenue to a more remote site on Liverpool Street. In 1908 the firm Atkins and Bacon was hired to design a new campus at the Liverpool Street site. The Supreme Court granted the school board the right to receive a loan of up to £50,000. Work on the site began in 1908 and in 1909 the foundation stone was laid by Governor Lord Plunket, that year the contract was awarded to Nicholas Meuli to build six two-storey buildings. The campus was opened in Easter of 1911 by Governor Lord Islington. Not all construction had been completed and buildings from the old campus were moved on site to accommodate students and staff.[5]

The new campus' chapel was not part of the loan the board received and instead was funded by the headmaster Walter Empson and an old boy's fund, due to Walter Empson's responsibilit for the project a different architect, William Gray Young, was chosen for the chapel. The chapel was dedicated in Easter 1912. Growth in enrolment lead to the chapel being extended through old boy's fundraising with re-dedicated occurring in September 1986.[5]

During the 1960s the school reached a new peak enrolment of 342, to accommodate this new growth extra facilities were built. These facilities allowed the school to accommodate 545 students in 1976. During the late 1980s the amount of boarders decreased following a global trend and the 1987 stock market crash, the school roll subsequently declined and to bolster enrolment and finances senior girls were allowed to enrol in 1989. The new enrolments from female students were not enough to improve the school's finances and ultimately the Marris and Porritt Houses were converted into technology blocks in 1999. In 2009 the school board applied to the Ministry of Education for integration within the state system, by November 2012 this had occurred, despite a long process.[5]

In 1984 a new auditorium was opened, name after Prince Edward who had served as a tutor at the school for two years prior. The auditorium also serves for private functions and the New Zealand Opera School. In 1994 the Izard Sports Centre was opened, named after Richard Izard who had funded a significant portion of it.[5]

Since 2019, Collegiate has been one of three Round Square schools in New Zealand along with King's College and Christ's College.[6]

In January 2019, the Whanganui Collegiate School Board of Trustees and Whanganui College Board of Trustees unanimously voted to add an 'h' to the spelling of 'Wanganui', following other local organisations and secondary schools after the Whanganui District was similarly renamed in November 2015.[7][8]

In mid-2023, it was announced that Whanganui Collegiate School would replace NCEA Level 1 with Cambridge IGCSE from 2024.[9]

Houses

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Following the establishment of the new campus a house system was established, the houses were: Grey, Selwyn, and Hadfield. Each house had its own building, courtyard, and ablution block. A fourth house, dedicated to the Headmaster Reverend Harvey was planned but was not completed until 1920 due to the costs, the same architectural firm and contractor were responsible for the building alongside a day facility, residence for the chaplain and steward, and a music room. Harvey's was constantly closed and reopened due to fluctuating enrolment numbers. In the 1960s Empson House was opened for junior boarders. A house for day students were later added as day student numbers grew and started to rival boarding students (in 1925 there were 222 boards versus 31 day students). In 1971, Governor-General Arthur Porritt opened Porritt House for day students. Godwin House was constructed in 1990 to accommodate newly accepted female students.[5]

Sport

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The school grounds also host numerous sporting facilities, including the Izard Gymnasium, High Performance Cricket Centre, a water surface hockey turf, a full-sized Cross Country Course and many team sports fields. The nearby Whanganui River is used by students for rowing training and competitions; rowing being one of the sports in which Collegiate has traditionally excelled, having won the Maadi Cup 17 times, a national record. The Collegiate women's squad had a particularly strong year in 2006 when it won the most prestigious women's race in the lower north Island, the Levin Jubilee Trophy, for the first time.[10] Unfortunately, such success could not be replicated on the national stage, with the u18 girls eight only managing bronze in the penultimate race of the 2007 Maadi Cup.[11] The school also hosts the nationally popular Whanganui Cricket Festival each year which sees over 1000 cricketers display their skills throughout the month of January.

Izard Gymnasium

Since 1925, the school's 'First XV' rugby team has played Christ's College, Wellington College and Nelson College in an annual quadrangular rugby tournament, this Tournament is played at a different school every year playing at Collegiate once every four years. In recent times, this tournament has been dominated by Wellington College. Whanganui Collegiate last won in 1991.[citation needed]

Since 1994, The New Zealand Opera School has been hosted at Collegiate by Donald Trott.[12]

Notable alumni

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Main category: People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School

Headmasters

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  • Charles Henry Sinderby Nicholls (1854–1865)
  • Henry H Godwin (1865–1877)
  • George Richard Saunders (1878–1882)
  • Bache Wright Harvey (1882–1887)
  • Walter Empson (1888–1909)
  • Julian Llewellyn Dove (1909–1914)
  • Hugh Latter (1914–1916)
  • Patrick Marshall (1917–1922)
  • Robert Guy Wilson (1922)
  • Charles Frederick Pierce (1922–1931)
  • John Allen (1932–1935)
  • Frank Gilligan (1936–1954)[31]
  • Rab Bruce Lockhart (1954–1960)
  • Thomas Wells (1960–1980)
  • Ian McKinnon (1980–1988)[32]
  • Trevor Stanton McKinlay (1988–1995)
  • Johnathan Rae Hensman (1995–2003)[33]
  • Craig Considine (2003–2008)
  • Tim Wilbur (2008–2013)
  • Chris Moller (2013–2017)[34]
  • Ross Brown (2017–2017) (acting) [35]
  • Wayne Brown (2018–present)

Notes

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  1. ^ Whanganui was spelt as Wanganui through out most of the 19th and 20th centuries

References

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  1. ^ "Headmaster's Newsletter" (PDF). Wanganui Collegiate. 20 September 2017.
  2. ^ "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  4. ^ Stephenson, Sharon (Autumn 2025). Dunlop, Anna (ed.). "Track Record". Heritage New Zealand. No. 176. Heritage New Zealand. pp. 18–21. ISSN 1175-9615.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Astwood, Karen (6 June 2015). "Wanganui Collegiate School". Heritage New Zealand.
  6. ^ WhangaChron, Staff Reporter news@whanganuichronicle co nz (19 June 2019). "Whanganui Collegiate School accepted as a Round Square School". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  7. ^ "'H' to be added to Wanganui District name". Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). 17 November 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Wanganui Collegiate School changes to Whanganui Collegiate School". Whanganui Chronicle. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  9. ^ Carle, Steve (8 August 2023). "Whanganui Collegiate School set to introduce Cambridge IGCSE from 2024". Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Magnificent final day at the Maadi Cup".
  11. ^ "We did ok, says rowing coach – NZ Herald".
  12. ^ Davidson, Doug (5 December 2019). "Donald Trott: A Lifetime of Achievement" (PDF). River City Press.
  13. ^ "Ceremony for war vet at Collegiate". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Collegiate honours tie for driver". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Council, MP should be 'screaming madly' - National spokesman". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  16. ^ "A glance at Whanganui sport". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  17. ^ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Collegiate mourn the loss of Olympic old boy". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  19. ^ "Eminent surgeon's grandson at opening". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  20. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 315.
  21. ^ "WHS eyes netball nationals". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  22. ^ "K-pop is going to Hollywood as Nichkhun stars in Hong Kong Love Story". South China Morning Post. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  23. ^ "Talking Rugby with John B Phillips". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  24. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 313.
  25. ^ "Winner of Booker Prize awarded Collegiate's highest honour". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  26. ^ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  27. ^ "Whanganui reacts to Prince Philip's death". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  28. ^ "Public v private: The old school tie network - and why faith matters". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  29. ^ "NZ identity Lloyd Morrison: 1957-2012". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  30. ^ "Arthur Porritt legacy: 'National treasures' won in online auction". NZ Herald. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  31. ^ "Eminent Old Alleynians : Sport". Dulwich College. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  32. ^ "Their Brilliant Careers" (PDF). Ingenio. University of Auckland: 24. Autumn 2005. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  33. ^ Full list with biographies in The Register of the Wanganui Collegiate School, 1854–2003, 7th edition, 2003, ed. P. N Irvine, ISBN 0-473-09863-6, pp 21–23
  34. ^ "Headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate sentenced for drink-driving". New Zealand Herald. 13 December 2016.
  35. ^ "New head for Wanganui Collegiate". Whanganui Chronicle. 28 July 2017.
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