Ashburton College is a state coeducational secondary school located in Ashburton, New Zealand. It opened in 1965 following the merger of two Ashburton secondary schools: Ashburton High School and Hakatere College, and moved to its current site in 1974. Serving Years 9 to 13, Ashburton College has a roll of students as of .

Enrolment

Ashburton College is naturally zoned by the school's relative isolation (the nearest alternative state secondary school is

Mount Hutt College Methven ( mi, Piwakawaka) is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located near the western edge of the Canterbury Plains, 35 kilometres north of Ashburton and 95 kilometres west of Christchurch, and ...

, 35 km away in Methven), therefore does not need to operate an enrolment scheme. The school has an effective service area of the entire township of Ashburton and much of the coastal half of Mid-Canterbury, with Mount Hutt College in Methven, Ellesmere College in Leeston,

Geraldine High School Geraldine ( mi, Heratini) is a town in the Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand. It is about 140 km south of Christchurch, and inland from Timaru, which is 38 km to the south. Geraldine is located on State Highway 79 b ...

in Geraldine, and the Pacific Ocean bounding the Ashburton College service area to the west, north, south and east respectively. At the April 2013 Education Review Office (ERO) review of the school, the school had 1173 students enrolled, including twelve international students. Fifty-one percent of students were male and 49 percent were female. Seventy-seven percent of students identified as New Zealand European (Pākehā), ten percent as

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, four percent as Pacific Islanders, three percent as

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and six percent as another ethnicity.

Critical praise

In 2012 Ashburton College was first equal in The Clean Green Business Award, won the Large Business Award and was also named the Overall Supreme Award winner in the Ashburton Business Association biennial business awards. In 2008, The Education Review Office ranked the school the top in the country for the promotion of male's learning. Statistics from the 2008 NCEA results ranked the school fifth in performance out of the 19 decile seven to nine schools.Schools shine in NCEA
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Ashburton College in the Media

Media Coverage. Given Ashburton College's status as the much larger of two secondary schools in Mid Canterbury and the only secondary school based in Ashburton (Mount Hutt College is in Methven) the local newspaper, ''The Ashburton Courier'' provides coverage of the College's activities. NCEA Statistics. Ashburton College has consistently improved its performance in NCEA over recent years. In 2014 the College achieved a 90% pass rate across all Year 11 students, which is significantly higher than the national or decile scores. This result was also reflected in all sub-groups (e.g. gender, ethnicity) in Year 11. Similar results and trends were also achieved for NCEA levels 2 and 3 (Years 12 and 13) students.

Notable alumni

Paul Ackerley Paul Douglas Ackerley (16 May 1949 – 3 May 2011) was a field hockey player, maths teacher and public servant from New Zealand. He played field hockey at right half. He was a member of the national team that won the gold medal at the 1976 Su ...

– Olympic gold medal winning hockey player * Simon Barnett – radio and television personality * Robyn Malcolm – television actress *

Simon O'Neill Simon John O'Neill (born 1971) is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp. Biography O'Neill was born in Ashburton, New Zealand, and received his musical tra ...

– tenor *

Hayden Roulston Hayden Roulston (born 10 January 1981, in Ashburton) is a former New Zealand professional racing cyclist. He won the silver medal in the men's 4000 m individual pursuit and a bronze medal in the men's 4000 m team pursuit at the 2008 Summer O ...

– Olympic silver medal cyclist

Ashburton Astronomy Group Observatory

The Ashburton Astronomy Group Observatory is situated in the grounds of Ashburton College. The building and equipment is owned by the college but administered and maintained by the AAG. The primary instrument in use is a 130-year-old equatorially mounted 230mm With-Browning newtonian reflector telescope. The

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

is of the roll-off-roof variety.

References

External links

Education Review Office (ERO) reports

Ashburton College Website

Ashburton College Alumni Website
{{Authority control Secondary schools in Canterbury, New Zealand New Zealand secondary schools of S68 plan construction Ashburton, New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1965 1965 establishments in New Zealand