Westland High School, previously Hokitika High School or Hokitika District High School, is a secondary school in

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of . ...

, New Zealand.

History

The first application to have a high school in Hokitika was made in 1879. In the following year, the Royal Commissioners on Universities and Secondary Schools supported this move in their report. The Hokitika High School Act 1883 was a piece of legislation championed by

Gerard George Fitzgerald Gerard George Fitzgerald (10 October 1832 – 7 June 1904) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Like his brother James FitzGerald, he was a journalist of considerable ability, and co-founded ''The Southland Times'' in 1862. F ...

, member of parliament for the Hokitika electorate. The legislation, passed in September 1883, allowed for the establishment of a high school in Hokitika, formulated how the school board was to be determined, and gave the mechanism of dealing with land endowment. The school board, which first met in February 1884, came together at regular interval but found that it would have insufficient funds to pay for a headmaster. The impasse was broken by The Hokitika High School Act 1883 Amendment Act, 1890, which was sponsored by the local MP

Joseph Grimmond Joseph Grimmond (1843 – 27 November 1924) was a gold miner and politician from the West Coast, New Zealand. He was mayor of Ross for many years, represented the Hokitika electorate in the House of Representatives for one term, and was late ...

. This enabled the high school to be established through a merger with the Hokitika State School, and Hokitika High School opened on Monday, 19 January 1891. The school's name was changed in 1963 to Westland High School; this was accommodated through the Westland High School Amendment Act 1963. The school war memorial is an obelisk that lists those pupils and teachers who served in World War I, and those who were killed in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

and in World War II.

Enrolment

At the August 2019

Education Review Office The Education Review Office (ERO) (Māori: ''Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with reviewing and publicly reporting on the quality of education and care of students in all New Zealand school ...

(ERO) review of the school, Westland High School had 300 students enrolled. 51% of students were male and 49% were female. The prioritised ethnic composition was 68% New Zealand European, 28%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 2% Pacific peoples, and 2% other ethnic groups.

Notable pupils

* Ronald King (1909–1988), New Zealand rugby union player * Stephen Lowe (born 1962), third Catholic Bishop of

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

* Holly Robinson (born 1994), para-athlete *

Bill Schramm Frederick William Schramm (28 March 1886 – 28 October 1962) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was the eleventh Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1944 to 1946. Biography Early life Schramm was born in Hokitika ...

(1886–1962), Labour MP for the

Auckland East Auckland East was a New Zealand electorate, situated in the east of Auckland. It existed between 1861 and 1887, and again between 1905 and 1946. History The Auckland East electorate was established for the 1860–1861 election, when the City ...

electorate

Notable staff

* Peter Hooper (1919–1991) was a New Zealand teacher, writer, bookseller and conservationist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westland High School 1891 establishments in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1891 Secondary schools in the West Coast, New Zealand