| Wellington High School & Community Education Centre | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Taranaki Street, Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Information | |
| Type | State secondary co-educational years 9-13 |
| Motto | Excellence in Learning |
| Established | 1886 |
| Ministry of Education Institution no. | 273 |
| Principal | Prue Kelly |
| School roll | 1182 |
| Socio-economic decile | 9[1] |
| Website | www.whs.school.nz |
Wellington High School is a co-educational (since 1905) secondary school in downtown Wellington, New Zealand. In 2005 the roll was approximately 1100 students. It was founded, as Wellington College of Design, in the 1880s with the intention of providing a more appropriate education for the Dominion than the narrow academic training provided by the existing schools. It is the first co-educational secondary in New Zealand.
Many of the current buildings date from the 1980s and are in the neo-brutalist style pyramidal roofs.
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Wellington High School, and the institutions from which the current school evolved, have a significant place in the history of public education in New Zealand. It was founded in 1886 by Arthur Dewhurst Riley as the Wellington College of Design. In 1891 the school became Wellington Technical School. It moved to its present site on Taranaki Street from Mercer Street in 1922. Riley was a pioneer of technical and vocational education in New Zealand and his views influenced the Manual and Technical Instruction Act of 1900.
In 1964 the secondary and tertiary education parts separated, the upper part becoming Wellington Polytechnical School. Wellington Poly has now become Massey University's Wellington Campus. Other technical schools have also gone on to become tertiary institutions, including Auckland University of Technology and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. The school retains a large community education programme.
The School was New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Export Awards Education Exporter of the Year 2004.[2]
In 2004, the school made the national headlines [3] when students campaigned for the eviction of the Wellington branch of the Destiny Church, which was using the school hall for its services. Despite over 50% of enrolled students signing their names to a petition, the church still conducts services at the school.
In 2006, in response to research on Wellington High students,[4] and an award-winning student video,[5] Principal Prue Kelly introduced a scheme which allows senior students' first classes to begin at 10:20am (as opposed to 8:45am). This issue has received much media coverage (e.g.[6][7]) and very little controversy. Principal Prue Kelly is confident that this progressive trial in timetable restructuring will "catch on" and other schools will begin to adopt it as well.
In September 2007, the schools reputation was put under threat after it was discovered that some Year 13 (7th form) students were consuming alcohol during lunchtimes at a nearby university cafe.[8] Though it was later discovered that those who had been drinking were all over the legal age of 18. The failure to mention this implies that the bar had been serving underage students.
The school had a student-run radio station, LiveWire, which transmitted at 107.1. It had a range of approximately 4 km. The radio station ceased broadcasting at the end of 2007. On the 14th of February 2011, the radio station was revived as High-Fi FM. It is operated by students from the school. The radio station still has the same specifications of a 4KM broadcast range and runs 24/7.[9] [10]
There are also Wellington High Schools in Florida, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio and Texas