Middleton Grange School (abbreviated MGS) 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 New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, is a state-integrated

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

co-educational Year 1 to 13 school. It's currently New Zealand's largest

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Christian school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

History

Established in 1964 by the Christian Schools Trust, as an independent Christian school and became integrated into the state system in 1996. Middleton Grange School belongs to the Christchurch Christian Schools Network (CSN) and the New Zealand Association for Christian Schools (NZACS). The school premises used to house the Christchurch headquarters of the

Maxim Institute The Maxim Institute is a research and public policy think tank based in Auckland, New Zealand. The Institute's work is oriented toward a conservative perspective on its issues of primary concern, which are now education policy, tax and welfare poli ...

, a conservative Christian thinktank. Bruce Logan was once Middleton Grange's former curriculum director. In 2010, the school was ordered to apologise and compensate a former employee for firing him because of his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. In 2018, the school held a mufti day for a gold coin donation called 'dress as refugees' to support

World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. The school asked students to dress as refuges in old ragged cloths. The former principal Richard Vanderpyl said that the mufti say was a good way to develop understanding and compassion is to experience a little bit of what it feels like to be poor. The school received two complaints from parents due to the mufti day.

Structure

Middleton Grange School's academic structure consists of four departments, Primary School, Middle School, Senior College and International College. Primary School consists of students from years 1-6, Middle School consists of students from years 7-10 and Senior College consists of students from years 11-13 Primary School, Middle School and Senior College all have separate heads. The Head of Primary School is Rod Thompson, the Head of Middle School is Mike Barlow, and the Head of Senior College is Ruth Velluppillai. Years 7-13 all have Deans or Learning Team Leaders for each year. The current principal is Mike Vannoort.

Academics

As a state-integrated school, Middleton Grange follows the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). In Years 11 to 13, students complete the

National Certificate of Educational Achievement The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the official secondary-school qualification in New Zealand. Phased in between 2002 and 2004, it replaced three older secondary-school qualifications. The New Zealand Qualifications Au ...

(NCEA), the main secondary school qualification in New Zealand

Attendance

Primary School

Each year group in the primary school approximately 48 pupils

Middle School (Year 7 - 10)

Each year group has on average 124 pupils

Senior College (Year 11 - 13)

Each year group has 197 pupils on average In total, the school has 1346 pupils

Houses

Pupils and teachers are divided into specific houses which then compete in (mostly) sporting and cultural activities. There are four of these, named after early British explorers of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, as Robert Falcon Scott stayed at Middleton Grange's original gentry house before embarking on his ill-fated expedition.

Notable alumni

Graham Capill Graham John Capill (born 1959) is a former New Zealand Christian leader, politician and convicted rapist. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple s ...

- Former leader, Christian Heritage, eldest son of Don Capill, First Middleton Grange Vice-Principal. Later convicted of sexual abuse. *

Jeremy Kench Jeremy Brian Kench (born 27 April 1984) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). Playing career Kench attended former powerhouse Christchurch basketbal ...

- Professional basketball player * Josiah Tualamali’i - Health and social justice advocate *

Olivia Podmore Olivia Rose Podmore (24 May 1997 – 9 August 2021) was a New Zealand professional cycle sport, racing cyclist. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Early life Born in Christchurch in 1997, Oli ...

- Professional racing cyclist *

Richie Edwards Richie Edwards (born 25 September 1974) is an English musician. He is the former bassist of the British hard rock band The Darkness and the guitarist/vocalist of their successor band Stone Gods. He was confirmed as a member on 13 June 200 ...

- Professional basketball player *

William Stedman William Stedman (January 21, 1765 – August 31, 1831) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Stedman was born in Cambridge in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He graduated from Harvard University in 1784. After this he studied la ...

- 2x bronze medal Paralympian

Notable staff

Vic Pollard Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense) ...

(Former Associate Principal) * Bruce Logan (Former Curriculum Director)

References

External links

Education Review Office (ERO) reports
{{Authority control Primary schools in Christchurch Intermediate schools in New Zealand Secondary schools in Christchurch Educational institutions established in 1964 Christian schools in New Zealand 1964 establishments in New Zealand