Avondale College, Auckland

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Avondale College
Motto	Kohia nga taikaka (collect the heartwood)
Type	State co-ed Secondary School Year 9-13
Year established	1945
Address	Victor Street, Avondale
Principal	Brent Lewis
School roll	2654
Socio-economic decile (10 is high)	5
Ministry of Education Institution no.
Website	http://www.avcol.school.nz

Avondale College is a secondary education provider in Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is currently one of the largest secondary schools in New Zealand with 2654 students, with 108 of those being international students[1]. There is a large cultural diversity within the school, with an ethnic composition of New Zealand European/ Pākehā 28%, Māori 9%, Samoan 15%, Chinese 12%, Indian 9%, other Asian 7%, other European 5%, Tongan 4%, Niuean 3%, other Pacific 2%, Other 6%. Around 50 different countries are represented in the student body and each of these is represented by a flag in the gymnasium, though these flags have of late been ill attended to.

The Principal of Avondale College and head of the 179 teachers is Mr. Brent Lewis. Many staff members of Avondale College Auckland come from Britain, through frequent teacher recruitment trips by the principal. Lewis became principal in 2001 after the untimely death from leukemia of the much loved Phil Raffills who went to great lengths to reform the school, and was actively involved in the school life. Brent Lewis took over from acting principal (former deputy principal) Warren Peat, who went on to become principal of Saint Kentigern College.

Chairman of the board is Mr Dave Shadbolt, also principal of Kaurilands Intermediate School. Student representative to the board is Fisi Vaoesea.

Avondale College students wear a black and white uniform with the school crest on it that has variations depending on year level and gender, which changed from an older black, white and grey one in 2004. Uniform is strictly enforced with students being required to have socks pulled up and shirts tucked in at all times. Formal attire is available from the College Shop, consisting of blazers and ties.

Avondale has a sister school in Japan called Daito Bunka, which is a preparatory school for Daito Bunka UniverCity, Tokyo.

The school was used in the 1995 feature film Bonjour Timothy, a joint New Zealand/Canadian production.

The school practices NCEA for assesements and examinations.

1 History
2 Buildings
3 Closure
4 Notable Alumni
5 External links

[edit] History

The site and buildings of Avondale College began their life as an American Naval Hospital in 1943: U.S. Naval Mobile Hospital Number 6. At that time the USA was preparing for an extended Second World War battle in the South Pacific and Auckland was chosen as one of a few New Zealand cities for hospitals to tend the wounded army and naval personnel.

Fletcher Construction was the builder of the hospital. The Department of Education had some of the site planned for a new secondary school to cope with the overcrowding of Auckland secondary schools. The hospital was given first priority, but a small portion of the buildings were built in permanent materials so that the wards, the gymnasium, the hall and some other buildings could easily be converted into a school at the end of the war. The extent of the hospital was huge, taking up all of the present school site as well as the nearby Rosebank Park and fields. The war in the Pacific did not reach the scale it was feared it could become and, in fact, the hospital was not used for wounded personnel. In February 1945 the Education Department recommended that Avondale Technical high School (as it was first named) and the neighbouring Intermediate School should be supervised by one school committee and it was the 6th February when five hundred and fifty students and twenty-one teachers gathered to begin turning the former hospital into a school. This was no easy task as New Zealand was still virtually operating under war conditions so that supplies and orders for the school were a good eighteen months from order placements to delivery.

However there were compensations. Student accounts from the school magazine Taikaka reveal how proud students were of their brand new school buildings, their very well qualified teachers and the sense that Avondale College was leading new Zealand in a number of ways: it very soon became one of the largest schools in New Zealand; it embraced with vigour the new national curriculum; it took students outside the classroom on field trips; it developed a huge orchestra; it produced wonderful dramas and musicals; it had an expansive technical block.

Since 1945 the six principals of Avondale College (L.E Titheridge, A.R. Stephenson, W.R. Familton, A.H. Burton, P. R. Raffills, B. Lewis) have all extended and rebuilt the buildings (especially after the devastating fire in 1990), redeveloped the site and playing grounds, created an outdoor education camp in the National Park, established exchange schools in Japan and Noumea, developed business relationships with the local community, installed the latest technologies for students and staff. Along with this has been a steady increase in the scholastic and sporting achievements of the school to the present day where both the school and its achievements rank it among the best in New Zealand.

[edit] Buildings

The Avondale College school grounds feature a prominent science and IT building as well as a gymnasium and outdoor sport fields and astroturf. A outdoor swimming pool is also available for sport lessons. By the Drama and Music buildings there is a theatre with a capacity of 300, the theatre has permanent lighting rigs, orchestra pit and flexible seating (although found quite uncomfortable by most due to lack of leg room).

On June 9, 2006, the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has visited Avondale College to officially open the new technical subjects building, the Ferguson Building, that had already been in use through the second half of 2005. It is named after the current head of the Chemical and Materials Engineering department at the University of Auckland, Professor George Ferguson.

Due to a fire in 1990, much of the school was rebuilt including the gymnasium.

[edit] Closure

The school was closed for the day on 2006-10-24 after a fatal stabbing outside its gates on Sunday evening 2006-10-22. Fourteen-year-old Manaolo Kaumeafaiva died after being stabbed in the chest. Manaolo, a student at the College was attending a church event. [2]