Rangitoto College

Rangitoto College is a state coeducational secondary school, located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Serving years 9 to 13, Rangitoto has a school roll of as of making it the largest "brick-and-mortar" school in New Zealand (only The Correspondence School is larger, with students). Patrick Gale is the current principal.

Location

Rangitoto College is located in Mairangi Bay, on the East Coast Bays on Auckland's North Shore. The easternmost field as well as many of the classrooms on the eastern side of the school have a view of the Rangitoto Channel as well as Rangitoto Island.

History

Rangitoto College opened in 1956, with an initial roll of 180 Year 9 and 10 students (then known as Forms 3 and 4). A block and D block are the school's two original buildings; these are standard school buildings of the "1950s Single Storey" type, with long single-storey blocks of classrooms orientated east-west with a corridor connecting the classrooms on the south side.

Enrolment

Like many secondary schools in Auckland, Rangitoto operates an enrolment scheme to help curb roll numbers and prevent overcrowding. Rangitoto's enrolment zone, in which students residing are automatically entitled to be enrolled without rejection, covers approximately , and includes Browns Bay, Campbells Bay, Mairangi Bay, Murrays Bay, Pinehill, Rothesay Bay, Sunset North, and Windsor Park, and parts of Meadowood and Rosedale east of the Auckland Northern Motorway. Students residing outside the zone are accepted as roll places allow per the enrollment scheme order of preference and secret ballot.

As of March, 2021, Rangitoto College had 3284 students enrolled. Of the students, 1578 were Pākehā/New Zealand European, 1165 were Asian, 198 were Māori, 65 were Pacific Islanders, 87 were International Students, 159 were MELAA, and 32 students were from other ethnicities and demographics.

Rangitoto College has a socio-economic decile rating of 10 (step Z), meaning it draws its school community from areas of highest socio-economic strata when compared to other New Zealand schools.

Recent principals

In mid-2005, principal Allan Peachey stood down in order to stand as a National Party candidate for election to Parliament. Alison Cleland took over as principal in the interim. As a result of Peachey's election as the Member of Parliament for the Tamaki electorate, David Hodge, a former student at Rangitoto College, was appointed as Principal in 2006, but left in 2017. Patrick M. Gale is the current principal.

Academic performance

Rangitoto College is a decile 10 school, meaning that, as the ERO (Education Review Office) puts it, Rangitoto draws its students from an area of 'least socio-economic disadvantage'. The data show that it performs at, or above, the average level for decile 10 schools nationally. Like other decile 10 schools, Rangitoto performs better than schools from areas of greater socio-economic disadvantage.

Prior to Bursary being replaced by the National Certificate of Educational Achievement Rangitoto had at least one student recognised as New Zealand's top scholar in a subject between 2001 and 2003; in 2003 Rangitoto had three four top-scholars including top all-round Female Māori Scholar
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In 2006 a Rangitoto College student was named "Top Scholar in New Zealand" for the subject of history in 2006 based on the NCEA framework.

In 2013, 94.4 percent of students leaving Rangitoto College held at least NCEA Level 1, 89.5 percent held at least NCEA Level 2, and 76.3 percent held at least University Entrance. This is compared to 85.2%, 74.2%, and 49.0% respectively for all students nationally.

In 2021, Rangitoto College students collectively achieved 244 scholarship passes in the New Zealand Scholarship exams which included 34 "Outstanding" passes. Sixteen students gained four or more scholarship passes, with a further fourteen students gaining three scholarship passes. Six students gained Outstanding Scholar Awards (~60 nationwide) and one student, with ten scholarship passes, gained a Premier Scholar Award (Top ~12 nationwide). The Premier Award winner was also the Top Subject Scholar for Art History, Geography, and Statistics while one of the Outstanding award winners was the Top Subject Scholar for Health & Physical Education. This placed the school as the top scholarship school in New Zealand for the fourth year in a row.

Notable alumni

*Amy Adams – member of parliament for the Selwyn electorate
* Marco Alexander – basketball player
*Terenzo Bozzone – athlete
* Claudia Bunge – New Zealand international football player
*Graham Candy – actor/musician
*Oliver Driver – actor/TV personality
*Chloe Gong – author
*Mikey Havoc – media personality
*Lizzy Igasan – hockey player
* Anna Leat – New Zealand international football player
* Alex Maloney – Olympic sailor, silver medallist in the 49er FX class at Rio 2016
*Sean Marks – former basketball player in the NBA / Tall Blacks, current GM for the Brooklyn Nets
*Dean O'Gorman – actor, artist, photographer
*Erica Stanford – member of parliament for the East Coast Bays electorate
*Corney Swanepoel – Olympic swimmer
*Louise Upston – member of parliament for the Taupō electorate
*Anna Willcox-Silfverberg – skier and TV sports reporter
*Tai Wynyard – professional basketball player; former college player for the University of Kentucky
;Bands
*Midnight Youth – band formed at Rangitoto College
*The Naked and Famous – band comprising majority of members from Rangitoto College

References

External links

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{{Schools in Auckland

Educational institutions established in 1956
Secondary schools in Auckland
North Shore, New Zealand
1956 establishments in New Zealand