Tokomairiro High School is a co-educational, state secondary school in

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

, New Zealand, often simply known as "Toko".

History

Founded in 1856 as Tokomairiro School, it is one of New Zealand's oldest schools. It was originally established at Fairfax (now Tokoiti) in the southeast of Milton, with Alexander Ayson as the first teacher. As Milton grew in size due to the

Central Otago goldrush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

in the early 1860s, a larger school was soon needed. This was erected close to the centre of Milton in Spenser Street in 1863. In 1868, the Otago Provincial Government named Toko as one of the province's four

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

By the late 1870s, the school had swollen in size from its original 24 pupils to over 300. A new building was needed, as the Spenser Street site had been made to accommodate only some 200 children. The new school, on the present site at the north end of Union Street, was opened in 1880. The current school buildings were added to this stone building during the mid 20th century, and "the old stone school" erected in 1880 was finally demolished in 1970. During the 1880s, the school moved towards a more technical and scientific curriculum. The school's headmaster (its fourth) James Reid, was a keen student of chemistry, and technical subjects taught ranged from the "pure" sciences to agricultural studies and woodworking. Reid was headmaster for 26 years, from 1880 to 1906. During the 1930s, the school officially became a District High School. This was finally split into the current Tokomairiro High School (with intermediate and secondary classes) and Milton Primary School in 1966. Most of the current school buildings date from around or after this.

Notable staff

Leonard Cockayne Leonard Cockayne (7 April 1855 – 8 July 1934) is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand. Biography He was born in Sheffield, England where he attended Wesley College. He travelled to Austra ...

– botanist * Forrest Ross – mountaineer, journalist, writer

Notable alumni

* Ken Bloxham – rugby union player *

Hilary Halba Hilary Halba (born ''ca'' 1962) is a New Zealand actor, theatre director and academic. She is the head of the performing arts programme at the University of Otago. Biography Halba was born in Milton and attended Tokomairiro High School before ...

— actress and drama teacher *

Samantha Hayes Samantha Hayes (born 25 April 1984) is a South African-born New Zealand journalist and newsreader. Early life and personal life Hayes was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to a New Zealand father and a South African mother. The family rel ...

– news reader * Diana Noonan - children's author *

Guy Scholefield Guy Hardy Scholefield (17 June 1877 – 19 July 1963) was a New Zealand journalist, historian, archivist, librarian and editor, known primarily as the compiler of the 1940 version of the ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography''. Early life Sch ...

– historian, librarian

References

{{Schools in Otago Secondary schools in Otago Clutha District Milton, New Zealand