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

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth () 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, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

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

, 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 when participating in competitions and in extracurricular activities.

History

New Plymouth Boys' High School was established in 1878 by an Act of Parliament and was officially opened in 1882; the school celebrated its 125th Jubilee in 2007. Thomas Shailer Weston was for some time a governor of the school.

Pridham Hall

Pridham Hall, named after the first headmaster Ernest Pridham, a Master of the Arts graduate from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, is one of the heritage buildings from

, registered by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

as a Category 1 Historic Place. Designed by the New Zealand architect William Cumming, Pridham Hall was built between 1918 and 1919 by Boon Bros of New Plymouth and it was for a very long time the main building of the school. It features a large roof lantern on the north façade, a large Elizabethan style window at the west wing of the building, and a large balcony on the front façade towards the cricket ground. Pridham Hall has several classrooms and laboratories built around it. The building suffered from a serious fire in 1925, that destroyed the classrooms in the South-Eastern corner, affecting also the roof of the assembly hall. The damage was repaired again by the Boon Bros later that year.

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 – named after Dr Monty Barak who attended school from 1916 - 1920 and was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

in 1926 to study at The University of Oxford * Donnelly – Blue – Named after Martin Donnelly who attended school from 1930 - 1936. Martin Donnelly was a New Zealand test cricketer as well as an English rugby union player. * Hatherly – Red – Named after John Hatherly who attended school from 1928 - 1933. He returned to school as a teaching master from 1940 - 1978. During that time he was a boarding master for all but two years from 1940 - 1976. * Syme – Yellow – Named after Sir Ronald Syme was at school from 1918 - 1920. Sir Ronald was associated with Oxford University where he is widely regarded as the 20th century’s greatest historian on ancient Rome.

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 was opened by the

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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 students.

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 higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, b ...

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 and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. 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 International relations, 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 ar ...

in China and Japan.

Controversy over bullying

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

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

commissioned an independent report on

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. 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 sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

, 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

Idol winner Stan Walker, musicians Matt Thomas, Hayden Chisholm, former Chief of the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

Rear Admiral Tony Parr, David Gauld (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, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

graduated from New Plymouth Boys' High School. In 2018, Professor Emeritus David Penny was named a foreign associate of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

(NAS). Members of Parliament 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, Cam Calder and Ken Comber. Harry Barker was mayor of Gisborne for 27 years. Former Supreme Court judge Bill Wilson also attended the school. Australian media personality and Senator for

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

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 ...

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