Macleans College

Macleans College
Virtue mine honour
Location
2 Macleans Road, Bucklands Beach, Auckland
Coordinates	36°53′00″S 174°54′55″E / 36.8833°S 174.9152°E / -36.8833; 174.9152Coordinates: 36°53′00″S 174°54′55″E / 36.8833°S 174.9152°E / -36.8833; 174.9152
Information
Type	State co-educational secondary (year 9-13)
Established	1980
Ministry of Education Institution no.	41
Principal	B J Bentley
School roll	2574[1] (November 2013)
Socio-economic decile	10
Website	www.macleans.school.nz

The main sign of Macleans College as seen from the road

Macleans College is a co-educational secondary school in New Zealand situated in the Auckland suburb of Bucklands Beach. The principal is Byron Bentley. The school is named after the Macleans family who after immigrating to New Zealand in 1850 farmed the area of land that the school is built on.^[2] The school emblem contains the castle from the Macleans family crest along with six waves which symbolise the seaside location of the school.^[3]

The school has a reputation for academic success. Metro magazine placed Macleans College as the number one CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) Auckland high school in 2010.^[4]

History

The school was opened in 1980 by then Governor General Sir David Beattie with an initial roll of 199 students.^[3] The first principal was Colin Prentice, who later became director of World Vision in New Zealand, followed by his deputy Allan McDonald in 1989. On McDonald's retirement, Byron J Bentley, who holds a Master of Arts,^[5] became principal in 2000.^[6]

The school is named after the Maclean family. Robert and Every Maclean came to New Zealand from Cornwall, England, and they owned land in Howick.^[7][8]

Whanau House system

The Whanau House system at Macleans divides the school into houses of about 300 students each, with two form classes of 30 or so students for each year level, all from the same house. Each student belongs to a house. The Whanau system had previously been trialled at Penrose High School (now One Tree Hill College) by modifying existing buildings, but Macleans College was the first state school in New Zealand to be purpose-built around the system. The eight whanau houses are named after famous New Zealanders.

The original houses were Kupe, Hillary and Te Kanawa, although Hillary was rebuilt and reopened on 29 October 1992 after it burnt down in October 13, 1991.^[3] Te Kanawa house was opened by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa herself. More houses have been added as the roll has increased, with the latest addition being Upham, which was opened in 2003. The school has a roll of over 2,500 students.

Setting and buildings

Macleans College is located in Macleans Park, the largest passive reserve in the Howick/Pakuranga district.^[9] Due to its sloping terrain, the school has wide views of the adjacent Eastern Beach.

Each Whanau House has a one-storey building (with the exception of Batten, which has two) containing classrooms and science labs, and often several associated prefabs. Each Whanau House building also has a large central indoor commons area, which, along with being a general purpose socialising space, is used for house assemblies, lunch eating, and co-curricular activities. Hillary, Kupe, Rutherford and Te Kanawa were built to a common design plan, known as the Whanau plan or S80 plan. Classroom blocks nearly identical to these were also built at Penrose High School and at Mountainview High School in Timaru.

The school also contains specialised non-house associated Science and Home Economics (Practical), Music, and Engineering buildings, along with the large Barbara Kendall gymnasiums and a smaller auditorium for productions and performance.

Students

International students

The college takes in fee paying foreign students, mainly of Asian ethnicity. As they pay more than NZ$14,000 each per year, they constitute a significant part of the school's income.^[10]

Special abilities programme

Macleans offers the top intellectually performing students in each year level to apply for entry into their 'A class', their gifted and talented education system.^[11] Each A class is still a form class in a certain house and the allocated houses rotate each year. While mainstream or core students are sometimes allowed to accelerate in certain subjects, all students in the A class accelerate past their year level in many of their CIE pathway subjects. Since 2011, two 'A classes' have been formed each year.

Co-curricular activities

The school's unofficial co-curricular guide for students, although not extensive and slightly outdated, includes 28 sporting codes, 13 academic activities, 6 drama activities, 14 musical activities, 18 cultural activities and 24 clubs as part of the larger 'Intercultural Club'.^[12] Each student is required to participate in at least one long term co-curricular activity.^[13]

Music

Instrumental groups

In the annual KBB Music Festival which is held for secondary schools in the greater Auckland district, the Symphony Orchestra has consistently gained Outstanding awards, making them the number one secondary school orchestra for the years of 2008 to 2013 inclusive. They have also gained a gold award since 2007. The Concert Band has been ranked number one for the years of 2009 to 2012 inclusive, having gained gold since 2008, while the Chamber Orchestra was ranked number one for the years of 2010 and 2011.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Singing groups

The choir has qualified on a national level, gaining a silver in 2010 and 2011 and a gold in 2012 at the Big Sing National Finale.^[20][21][22] In 2011, the barbershop quartet gained second place nationwide while the girls' chorus placed fourth.^[23] In 2012, the barbershop quartet were placed first, winning the national title.^[24]

Representative badge system

The school also operates a representative badge system. Top tier co-curricular groups, such as the premier teams for many sports codes, debating teams, music groups, the tech crew, stage challenge, the Intercultural Club, and drama, annually give out badges to their members or leaders after they have contributed significantly to that co-curricular. Three badges are available for each group: blue, silver, and gold, in ascending rank.

Qualifications

For senior students, two qualification pathways are offered: NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement), and CIE (Cambridge International Examinations).^[25] CIE is offered as an alternative; the principal has stated that he has "major concerns about where the new qualification [NCEA] was going", one of which he said was that NCEA "breaks down subjects into units", which he believes is incoherent and could lead to students "cherry-picking parts of subjects they want to do". However he has also stated that the school has "no intention of disestablishing NCEA"; instead, they "have got to make it work".^[26]

High-achieving pupils can sit New Zealand Scholarship exams, which Macleans considers as "the prime qualification in this school”.^[26] Many students in Year 13 and Year 12 sit these examinations, which lead to monetary rewards and prestige for successful scholars. A further incentive for students to undertake multiple scholarship examinations is the elite card pass system which the school grants their top scholars.^[27]

Notable alumni

• Andrew de Boorder – cricketer, Auckland
• Derek de Boorder – cricketer, Auckland^[28]
• Scott Campbell – baseball, Minor league, Arizona Diamondbacks^[29]
• Jarek Goebel – rugby, Auckland Blues^[30]
• Kirsten Hellier – javelin, 1992 Olympics, 1990 and 1994 Commonwealth Games^[31]
• Bruce Hunter – triathlete, duathlon, three World Championships^[32]
• Barbara Kendall – windsurfing, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics; the Barbara Kendall school gymnasium is named after her^[33]
• Sean Lovemore – football, Wellington Phoenix^[34]
• Aaron McIntosh – windsurfing, 1996 and 2000 Olympics^[35]
• Kyle Mills – cricketer, New Zealand team^[36]
• Rhona Robertson – badminton, 1992 and 1996 Olympics^[37]
• Kamahl Santamaria – journalist^[38]
• Ryan Sissons – triathlete, 2012 Olympics^[39]
• Natalie Taylor – women's basketball, 2008 Olympics
• Brooke Walker – cricketer, New Zealand team
• Mark Weldon – swimmer, 1992 Olympics, former CEO of the New Zealand Exchange (NZX)^[40]

References

External links

• Macleans College website