Linwood College (New Zealand)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linwood College
Motto	ASPIRE
Type	Coeducational Secondary (Year 9-13)
Year established
Address	87 Aldwins Rd Linwood City Christchurch
Principal	Rob Burrough
School roll	910
Socio-economic decile (10 is high)	2
Ministry of Education Institution no.	337
Website	http://www.linwoodcollege.school.nz/

Linwood College is a co-educational decile 2 secondary school in Linwood, a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand.

[edit] History

Founded in the early 1950s, to cater for the secondary educational needs of a growing population in eastern Christchurch, then Linwood High School became one of New Zealand's larger secondary schools during the 1970s, with a roll of over 1600 pupils, at one point. However, as it also served a relatively low socio-economic area of industrial southeast Christchurch, and promoted sporting achievement alongside academic achievement, the school gained a reputation for being "rough".

The following the introduction of the 1989 Tomorrow's Schools policy, the role declined from about 1500, in 1990, to 775, in 2000. Much of this decline was attributed to the relaxation of school zoning restrictions and the resulting white flight by affluent families within the large south-eastern Christchurch catchment area sending their children to higher decile schools, that had a better academic reputation.

With the appointment of a new principal in 2000, the school undertook a rebranding exercise, changing the name from High School to College, and, consulting with both students and the community, rethought how it taught students. By 2004 the roll had climbed to 1080, academic results were above the New Zealand average and sports participation had noticably increased.