New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, New Zealand. The school currently caters for approximately 1300 students, including 210 boarders, on its site. The school often collaborates with the very close-by

New Plymouth Girls' High School New Plymouth Girls' High School is a girls' state secondary school in Strandon, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The school separated from New Plymouth High School in 1914, leaving New Plymouth Boys' High School on the old site. It is currently one of ...

. For example, the Hillary Challenge team for New Plymouth always draws students from both schools and the jazz band and concert band include musicians from both schools.

History

New Plymouth Boys' High School was founded in 1882 and celebrated its 125th Jubilee in 2007. Thomas Shailer Weston was for some time a governor of the school.

Principals

* Ernest Pridham (1882–1911) * Bill Moyes (1912–1941) * Jack McNaught (1942–1957) * John Webster (1958–1967) * Wit Alexander (1968–1971) * Geoff Cramond (1972–1978) * Tom Ryder (1979–1995) * Lyal French-Wright (1995–2008) * Michael McMenamin (2008–2015) * Paul Verić (2015–2019) * Sam Moore (2019–present)

Houses

New Plymouth Boys' High School currently has four houses. Students are sorted alphabetically into their houses, with the exception of Hatherly, which consists of boarders only. * Barak – green *

Donnelly Donnelly is a surname of Irish origin. It is the anglicized form of the Gaelic ''Ó Donnghaile'' meaning ‘descendant of Donnghal’ a given name composed of the elements "donn" (dark or brown), plus "gal" (valour). O'Donnelly is derived from ...

– blue * Hatherly – red * Syme – yellow

Huia Ropū system

Huia Ropū (formerly called Groups) is a class attended by all students on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before first period (between 8:35am and 9:00am). In the class, students learn about a variety of topics, including

time management Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. It involves of various demands upon a person relating to Employme ...

mindfulness Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from ''sati'', a significant element of Hind ...

, anti-

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

goal setting A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

and

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

path planning, among others. Students stay in their Huia group throughout their time in school. There are up to 16 ropū per house, and each ropū is referenced by the first letter of its house followed by its number (e.g. D13 for Donnelly #13).

Facilities

In 2008, the school acquired a new wing (now known as the French-Wright Block, named for the former headmaster Lyal French-Wright ) with facilities for administration, science and mathematics. The wing incorporates modern architecture to add a new flavor to the traditional school. The wing was opened by the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

at the time,

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

. The school has a boarding hostel, providing accommodation for up to 200 boys.

Student-based radio station

New Plymouth Boys' High also had their own radio station named "Gully FM" (however this is discontinued), as the school's "Gully Grounds" (the terrace-style rugby field of Boys' High) are a major part of New Plymouth Boys' High. Gully FM broadcast locally to New Plymouth on 87.9 FM. Gully FM was founded in 2011 after a small group of students got together and put forward a proposal to the headmaster. Gully FM mainly broadcast pop,

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

and

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

aimed at the students of the school.

United Space School

New Plymouth Boys' High School and New Plymouth Girls' High School are the only New Zealand schools to take part in the Foundation for International Space Education'
United Space School
which is held in Houston, Texas each year. One student from each school (and in 2009 a teacher), is selected to attend.

Exchange programme

student exchange program A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

has been established with a Chilean High School, Colegio San Nicolás de Myra, so that every year students alternate exchanges between New Plymouth and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. In 2006, NPBHS travelled to Chile for the first time, and the next year students from Chile came to NPBHS in return. This exchange has continued into the present, and is run through NPBHS by Tineka Twigley. The school also associates with schools in New Plymouth's

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

in China IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

and Japan.

Controversy over bullying

After an incident in 2008 when a boarder was beaten by four other students the school's

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

commissioned an independent report on

in November 2008. The report, released in late January 2009, identified a culture of bullying amongst students in the school's

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

, although the school's board of trustees disputed some of the report's findings. A 2010 Education Review Office review of the school did not highlight any bullying issues, and gave the school a positive report.

Notable alumni

Many successful men have come from the school, including Australian Idol winner

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of '' Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contrac ...

, musicians Matt Thomas,

Hayden Chisholm Hayden Chisholm (born 27 May 1975) is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist from New Zealand. He performs jazz, improvised music, and contemporary classical music. Life and career Chisholm was raised in New Plymouth, New Zealand, by paren ...

, former Chief of the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

Rear Admiral

Tony Parr Rear Admiral Anthony Jonathan Parr, (born 4 August 1955) was the Chief of the Royal New Zealand Navy from April 2009 to November 2012. He was succeeded by Rear Admiral Jack Steer. Early life Parr was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He was rais ...

David Gauld David Gauld (7 November 1865 – 18 June 1936) was an important Scottish artist who worked in both oils and stained glass and was regarded as being one of the innovators within the Glasgow Boys group. Some of his works, such as ''St Agnes'' and ...

(president of the New Zealand Mathematical Society 1981–82), the author and journalist John McBeth, and 24

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

. In 2018, Professor Emeritus David Penny received one of the highest honours in the science world, to be named a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) foreign associate.

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

who attended the school include Andrew Little, John Armstrong,

Bruce Beetham Bruce Craig Beetham (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s. A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training Colle ...

Merv Wellington Mervyn Langlois Wellington (6 October 1940 – 7 September 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. Early life and family Wellington was born in Inglewood in 1940, and received his education at New Plymouth Boys' High School ...

Cam Calder Campbell Gordon Calder (born 1952), known as Cam Calder, is a New Zealand doctor and politician who represented the National Party as a member of the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2014. Background Originally a dentist by trade, Calder ...

and

Ken Comber Kenneth Mark Comber (20 January 1939 – 6 December 1998) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party, and an accountant. Biography Early life and career Comber was born in New Plymouth in 1939. He received his education at St Joseph ...

. Harry Barker was mayor of Gisborne for 27 years. Australian media personality and Senator for

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

Derryn Hinch Derryn Nigel Hinch (born 9 February 1944) is a New Zealand-born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author. He is best known for his career in Australia, on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for V ...

attended New Plymouth Boys' High.

References

External links

New Plymouth Boys' High School Website

A Boarders Life – Social Network Website with Photos and Anecdotes from the 1960s

Gully FM
{{Authority control Boarding schools in New Zealand Boys' schools in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1882 Secondary schools in Taranaki Schools in New Plymouth 1882 establishments in New Zealand