Avondale College, Auckland

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Avondale College
Motto	Kohia nga taikaka (seek the heartwood)
Type	State co-ed Secondary School Year 9-13
Year established	1945
Address	Victor Street, Avondale
Coordinates
Principal	Brent Lewis
School roll	2654
Socio-economic decile (10 is highest)	4^[1]
Ministry of Education Institution no.	78
Website	www.avcol.school.nz

Avondale College representative entrance

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 2,654 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.

The principal of Avondale College and head of the 179 teachers is Brent Lewis. Many staff members of Avondale College come from Britain, through frequent teacher recruitment trips by the principal. Lewis became principal in 2001 after the death of Phil Raffills,^[2] who went to great lengths to reform the school, and was actively involved in the school life. Raffills successfully oversaw the redevelopment of the school buildings after much of the site was destroyed in a devastating fire in 1990.

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 Dave Shadbolt, also principal of Kaurilands Primary School. Student representative to the board is Utsuk Shah.

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 University, Tokyo.

The school has adopted NCEA for assessments and examinations.

1 History
2 Buildings
3 Music
4 Closure
5 Notable alumni
6 Notes
7 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.

The facility was designed by Tibor Donner (then in the NZ Public Works Department) and was built by Fletcher Construction. 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 the hospital was not used to care for war casualties. In February 1945 a single school committee was appointed to supervise the use of the hospital as a school. As New Zealand was still virtually operating under war conditions, supplies and orders for the school significantly delayed.

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, redeveloped the site and grounds, created an outdoor education camp (Taurewa) in Tongariro National Park, established exchange schools in Japan and Noumea, developed business relationships with the local community, installed the latest technologies for students and staff.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

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

The school swimming pool was used in an advertisement for Lemon & Paeroa in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Buildings

The Avondale College school grounds feature a prominent science and IT building as well as a gymnasium, outdoor sport fields, an astroturf complex, an outdoor swimming pool and a theatre with permanent lighting rigs, orchestra pit and flexible seating.^[3]

On June 9, 2006, the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark 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, who for many years served the college on the Board of Trustees.

[edit] Music

Avondale College music groups range from quintets to a Premier Concert Band. Other group include a school Orchestra, Big Band, Jazz Combo and wind quintet Vivavento.

The Premier Concert Band is one of the major music bands of the school, travelling to Sydney in June 2006 to participate in the International Music Festival, where they were awarded a Silver Award.^{[citation needed]} The Band was also awarded Silver at numerous other competitions, such as the KBB Music Festival and the National Band Competition.^{[citation needed]}

Also participating in Sydney's International Music Festival competition was the college's string group Spiccato. This octet also received a Silver Award and was crucially one point off receiving the much-coveted Gold Award.^{[citation needed]}

Avondale College offers a range of instrument tuition through various itinerant teachers and has instruments available for students' use.^{[citation needed]} It also provides a student-based Show Band for the school's annual theatre production. Concerts are held throughout the year to showcase the department's talents. These include the Friends and Family Concert, Jazz & Soul Concert and Classical Concert.

[edit] Closure

The school was closed for the day on October 24, 2006 after a fatal stabbing outside its gates on Sunday evening October 22, 2006. Fourteen-year-old Manaola Kaume`afaiva died after being stabbed in the chest. Manaola, a student at the College, was attending a church event.^[4]