Wellington High School, New Zealand

History

Wellington College of Design and Wellington Technical School

What is now Wellington High School was founded in 1886 by Arthur Dewhurst Riley as the Wellington College of Design. Riley was a pioneer of technical and vocational education in New Zealand and his views influenced the Manual and Technical Instruction Act of 1900.

The college was the first technical school in New Zealand, the students were teenagers who had entered the workforce after primary school and the classes were trade focused and in the evenings. Students paid a fee's to attend.

In 1891 the school became Wellington Technical School and it moved to its present site on Taranaki Street from Mercer Street in 1922, under the supervision of its then director, John Henry Howell.

Wellington Polytechnic

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.

Wellington High School

The secondary school retains a large community education programme.

In 2014, an additional Māori name was chosen to sit alongside the established and venerable name of Wellington High School; "Te Kura Tuarua o Taraika ki Pukeahu". Māori language students were deeply involved in the planning and implementation of the additional name. Taraika is the name of the school Marae. Pukeahu is the area of land on which the school stands. The students presented their idea to the school’s whānau group, Te Whānau a Taraika and the school’s Board of Trustees as well as consultation undertaken with Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o te Ika te mana whenua. The additional name was formally adopted at the school's annual Whakanuia celebration in October 2014.

Current affairs

The School was New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Export Awards Education Exporter of the Year 2004.

In 2004, the school made the national headlines when students campaigned for the eviction of the Wellington branch of the Destiny Church, which was using the school hall for its services, with over 50% of enrolled students signing their names to a petition.

In 2006, in response to research on Wellington High students, and an award-winning student video, 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, and generated very little controversy. Principal Prue Kelly was confident that this progressive trial in timetable restructuring would "catch on" and other schools would begin to adopt it as well. As well as the senior 10 o'clock start, all years receive a late start on Wednesdays.

In 2016, Wellington High became the first school in Wellington to provide gender-neutral toilets. WHS converted one floor's separate single sex bathrooms to two sets of gender-neutral bathrooms. The urinals were removed from the boys' bathrooms, and bins added. Signage simply says 'bathroom.' There was a lot of media surrounding the change, and WHS released a media release requesting that the media accept the privacy of students, writing that they are now "getting on with the business of learning." Later in 2016, Onslow College converted a block of their toilets to gender-neutral.

Radio station

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. In 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 4 km broadcast range and runs 24/7 on 107.3FM. In August 2025, it was once again brought back as Fly On The Wall, broadcast on Wellington Access Radio at 6pm on Thursdays.

Board of trustees

The Wellington High School board consists of eleven appointed and elected members. It is currently chaired by David Cooling.

Notable alumni

Main article: People educated at Wellington High School, New Zealand

• Matt Benney ISO – civil servant and politician
• Ken Blackburn – actor, director
• Craig Bradshaw – sportsman, Tall Blacks and Winthrop University
• Luke Buda – musician, Phoenix Foundation
• Samuel Flynn Scott – musician, Phoenix Foundation
• Ben Hazlewood – Singer
• Timothy Hyde – magician and writer
• Eddie Johnston – musician, Race Banyon and Lontalius
• Karen O'Leary - early childhood educator, comedian and television and film actress
• King Kapisi – musician
• Helen Kelly – President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
• Paul Eagle – Former Deputy Mayor of Wellington City, MP for Rongotai.
• Tom Larkin – musician, Shihad
• Sir Peter Leitch – The Mad Butcher
• Len Lye – artist, attended evening art classes at Wellington Technical College (now Wellington High School)
• Robert Miller – Known as Bushwhacker Butch, one half of professional wrestling team The Bushwhackers.
• Willy Moon – Singer and former X Factor New Zealand judge
• Nigel Priestley ONZM – earthquake engineer, professor at University of California
• Chelsie Preston Crayford – actress
• James Shaw – Male co-leader of New Zealand's Green Party
• Maud Winifred Sherwood – artist
• Eric Tindill – sportsman, double All Black – cricket and rugby
• Grant Tilly – actor, Downstage Theatre, Unity Theatre, films and television
• Jon Toogood – musician, Shihad
• Sir Jon Trimmer KNZM – ballet dancer
• Roland Wakelin – artist regarded as a founder of modern art movement in Australia
• Dan Weekes-Hannah – actor
• Tandi Wright – actress, Shortland Street and Out of the Blue
• Solo Tohi – Part of the Australian/ NZ break dance crew Justice Crew that won 2010 Australia's Got Talent
• Eva McGauley (1999–2018) – Activist, founder and CEO of www.Evaswish.com. Established an online charity for those who are victims of sexual harm

References

Sources

• Noel Harrison, The school that Riley built: The story of the Wellington Technical College from 1886 to the present day (ASIN: B0007JSZJ2): The history of Wellington Technical College up to 1961.

References

1. "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education.
2. "History – Wellington High School".
3. "Wellington Polytechnic".
4. Pollock, Kerryn. (20 Jun 2012). "Polytechnics before 1990".
5. (26 July 2004). "Solid Energy Wins Exporter Of The Year". Scoop.
6. "Destiny vows to move on as protest mars birthday". The New Zealand Herald.
7. (23 December 2004). "Campaign to remove Destiny Church from our schools". Scoop.
8. (20 January 2005). "Campaign To Get Destiny Church Out Of Wgtn High". Scoop.
9. "Professor Philippa Gander and the Sleep/Wake Research Centre".
10. "What's happening".
11. "Senior students switched on after a sleep-in".
12. "School trials later start time".
13. "Wellington High, Onslow College get gender-neutral bathrooms".
14. "Press release". whs.school.nz.
15. "Livewire 107.1".
16. "Fly On The Wall".
17. "Introducing The Board".
18. Casey, Alex. (2019-10-16). "The most interesting woman on NZ TV: Wellington Paranormal’s Karen O’Leary".
19. "Wellington Waterfront Newsletter".
20. (4 April 2023). "Kiwi wrestling superstar Bushwhacker Butch remembered as a 'rough diamond'". Stuff.
21. (16 March 2015). "Who are Natalia Kills and Willy Moon?". 3 News NZ.
22. Desmarais, Felix. (19 November 2018). "Teen activist and philanthropist fought against sexual violence". The Dominion Post.