Fendalton Open Air School is a primary school in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand known for its open-air classrooms. Fendalton Primary School was established in 1875, continuing to provide education for primary school children in

Fendalton Fendalton is a suburb of Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. History Fendalton was originally known as Fendall Town, named after the original settler of the land, Walpole Chesshyre Fendall (1830–1913). Fendall emigrated from Y ...

for over 140 years. , the school has 520 students, and the principal is Raewyn Saunders. In 2002 and 2003, it was runner up in the Goodman Fielder School of the Year Awards.

History

The Fendalton School opened in 1875 at a time when half of the school-aged children in New Zealand were not attending school. The school started

open air Open air, open-air or openair may refer to: *''Open Air'', a BBC television program *Open-air cinema or outdoor cinema *Open-air concert, a concert taking place outside *Open-air museum, a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of- ...

classes in July 1924. It was based on pilot programmes in England where it was found that plenty of fresh air and open spaced classrooms allowed children to recover more quickly from disease. The school was closed during the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

epidemic of 1919,Fendalton Open Air School history by the principal Ray Blank, Christchurch medical officer R B Phillips and Professor James Shelley, Education Professor of the

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

. Blank and Phillips paid for half of the cost of building the new sun facing class rooms with long verandahs and large windows themselves.''The Press'', Christchurch New Zealand, 2 August 2004, recovered from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, 4 December 2005 The previous rooms were so cold that one cup of hot cocoa was sold to the students at a cost of one

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

a week. The School was officially renamed as Fendalton Open Air School in 1963. In the same year, the newly opened

Cobham Intermediate School Cobham Intermediate School is a state intermediate school in the northwestern Christchurch, New Zealand suburb of Burnside. Cobham was originally named Fendalton Intermediate. However, there was confusion between the school and Fendalton Open Ai ...

took over Years 7 and 8, and Fendalton Open Air School became a Year 1 to 6 school.

Former students

Notable students who have attended Fendalton Open Air School include: * Corey Anderson, New Zealand cricketer * Sir

Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1980 ...

, New Zealand cricketer, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time and the first bowler to take 400 test match wickets *

Hayley Westenra Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand classical crossover singer and songwriter. Her first internationally released album, ''Pure'', reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million c ...

, Classical vocalist * Glenn Wilson, Psychologist *

Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal N ...

, Shackleton's captain on the ill-fated 1914-17

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing ...

Will Jordan Will Jordan (born Wilbur Rauch, July 27, 1927 – September 6, 2018) was an American character actor and stand-up comedian best known for his resemblance to, and impressions of, television host and newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan. Early life B ...

, rugby union player

References

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External links

Photo of Fendalton Open Air School room
at the Christchurch City Library Educational institutions established in 1875 Primary schools in Christchurch 1875 establishments in New Zealand