Shirley Boys' High School (), also known as SBHS, is a single sex state (public) secondary school in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. It was originally situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, but in April 2019 moved, along with

Avonside Girls' High School Avonside Girls' High School (), is a large urban high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, with more than 1,000 girls from Year 9 to Year 13. It was formerly in the suburb of Avonside but moved in 2019, along with Shirley Boys' High School, to ...

, further east to the former QEII Park, 8.6 kilometres from the city centre.

Brief history

Parents in the eastern and northern suburbs of Christchurch had wanted

single-sex education Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

for their sons. In 1957, this finally became available when the school opened under its first Headmaster, Charles Gallagher. Established on a swampy paddock formerly used for grazing horses to the west of North Parade, the School grew rapidly. Within a few years it became a self-confessed and proud rival to Christchurch Boys' High School as well as to St. Andrew's and St Bede's College. A detailed satirical portrait of the school as it was in the late 1960s can be found in ''The Shining City'', a novel by former student Stevan Eldred-Grigg. On the Easter weekend (April) of 2007, Shirley Boys' High School celebrated its 50th Jubilee. Commemorative events included an Old Boys' XV playing the current 2nd XV and the 1st XV playing in historic uniform against St. Andrew's College; as well as a golf tournament, formal black-tie dinner, staff luncheon and 'meet-and-greet evening'.

2011 earthquake

During the magnitude 6.3 quake on 22 February the school suffered extensive damage and had to close. At least two classroom blocks were expected to be demolished, and all of the concrete areas of the school, including the new tennis courts, were badly damaged. The students did not attend school for almost a month afterwards, before the decision was made to shift its pupils to Papanui High School – with Papanui High School's students changing to attend classes from 8 am until 1 pm, while the Shirley Boys' High School students entered the school at 1.15 pm and finished at 5.45 pm. After about 6 months of this arrangement pupils were able to return to the re-opened school in early September 2011.

Move to new site

Education Minister

Hekia Parata Patricia Hekia Parata (born 1 November 1958) is a former New Zealand public servant, diplomat, and politician. After a career as a senior public servant, Parata was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, representing the Nationa ...

announced on 16 October 2013 that the school would move, and be co-located with Avonside Girls' High School at a site in east Christchurch. On 12 February 2015 the site was announced to be the former QEII Park site. The move to the new site was completed in April 2019.

Enrolment

As of , Shirley Boys' High School has roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , the school has an

Equity Index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...

of , placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 5 and 6 under the former

socio-economic decile In the education in New Zealand, New Zealand education system, decile was a key measure of socioeconomic status used to target funding and support schools. In academic contexts the full term "socioeconomic decile" or "socioeconomic decile band" wa ...

system).

Houses

Notable alumni

* Nathan Astle – Former New Zealand cricketer * Tom Christie (rugby union) – Current Crusader * Ryan Crotty – Former

All Black 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 ...

and Canterbury Crusaders rugby player * Stevan Eldred-Grigg – New Zealand novelist and historian * Aaron Gilmore – Former Member of Parliament * Craig Green – Former

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

Chris Jack Christopher Raymond Jack (born 5 September 1978) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played as a lock. He played for Canterbury and the Tasman Mako in the National Provincial Championship and its successor, the Air New Zealand Cup; ...

– Former

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

* Dave Jaggar – computer scientist and James Clerk Maxwell Medal winner * Brodie McAlister – Current Chief and

* Hugh McCutcheon – Assistant Athletic Director/Sport Development Coach for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

* Craig McMillan – Former New Zealand cricketer * Eden Mulholland – composer and dancer * Richard Petrie – Former New Zealand cricketer * Setaimata Sa – Former rugby league player * Steve Scott – Former

halfback * Bradley Shaw – Current Black Stick * Hayden Shaw – Former Black Stick * Jamayne Isaako – Current

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

rugby league player * Duncan Webb – lawyer and politician *

Jono Kitto Jono Kitto (born 30 March 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union scrum half who is currently playing for Canterbury in New Zealand's National Provincial Championship; he has previously played for Leicester Tigers, Worcester Warriors and Harlequin ...

– rugby union player for Leicester Tigers and Canterbury

References

External links

Official Shirley Boys' High School website
{{Authority control Boys' schools in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1957 Secondary schools in Christchurch 1957 establishments in New Zealand