# Waitaki Boys' High School

Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. As of 2020, it has a school roll of approximately 400 students.
The school has a house system with four houses, Don, Forrester, Lee and Sutherland. It organises some cultural activities together with its nearby sister school, Waitaki Girls' High School.
The school is notable for its British colonial architecture, encompassing such historic buildings such as the Hall of Memories, an assembly hall, built to honour its former pupils who died in various wars. Most of the blocks of classrooms at Waitaki Boys High School are named after famous past students, also known as Waitakians or Old Boys. The main, and oldest block of the school is named after Denis Blundell.

## History

The idea of establishing a boys' high school in Oamaru originated with Samuel Shrimski, who was one of the two members of parliament representing the Waitaki electorate.

## Enrolment

As of November 2024, the school has roll of 404 students, of which 70 (17.3%) identify as Māori.
As of 2024, the school has an Equity Index of 484, placing it amongst schools whose students have above average socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to decile 4 under the former socio-economic decile system).

## Rectors

The following is a complete list of the rectors of Waitaki Boys' High School:
| | Name | Term |
| 1 | John Harkness | 1883–1896 |
| 2 | John Robert Don | 1897–1906 |
| 3 | Frank Milner | 1906–1944 |
| 4 | Jim Burrows | 1945–1949 |
| 5 | Malcolm Leadbetter | 1950–1960 |
| 6 | John Hammond Donaldson | 1961–1976 |
| 7 | Keith Albert Laws | 1976–1985 |
| 8 | Geoff Tait | 1986–1988 |
| 9 | Benjamin Rory Gollop | 1988–1998 |
| 10 | Paul Baker | 1999–2011 |
| 11 | Paul Jackson | 2012–2015 |
| 12 | Clive Rennie | 2016 |
| 13 | Darryl Paterson | 2017–present |

## Notable alumni

* Peter Arnett – journalist
* Fraser Barron – bomber pilot during World War II
* James Bertram – professor, journalist
* Denis Blundell – lawyer, governor-general
* Charles Brasch – poet
* Douglas Carter – former National MP for the Raglan electorate
* Ian Cathcart – basketball player
* Gonville ffrench-Beytagh (1912–1991) – Dean of Johannesburg and an anti-apartheid activist.
* Sir Malcolm Grant – chairman of NHS England and Chancellor, University of York (former Provost and President of University College London (2003–2013)
* Ron Guthrey – Mayor of Christchurch (1968–1971)
* Dean Hall – video game designer, mountaineer
* A. M. Hamilton – engineer
* Brian Henderson – newsreader in Australia
* Lindsay Merritt Inglis (1894–1966), a senior officer in the New Zealand Military Forces
* Donald Gilbert Kennedy, DSO, Navy Cross (U.S.) (1898–1976) – teacher, colonial administrator and Coastwatcher during the Solomon Islands campaign (World War II).
* Dylan Kennett (1994–) – Olympian and World Champion Track Cyclist
* Douglas Lilburn – Professor, composer
* Robert Macintosh (1897–1989), first Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetics, Oxford
* Terry McCombs – politician, headmaster
* Greg McGee – rugby union player and playwright
* Ian McLean – politician, economist
* Arnold Nordmeyer (1901–1989) – politician, Labour Party Minister of Finance 1957–1960
* David Sewell – cricketer
* Foss Shanahan – diplomat
* Angus Tait – electronics innovator and businessman
* Des Wilson – campaigner in Britain

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Appointment of new Rector for 2017". Waitaki Boys' High School. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
* 1 2 "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
* ↑ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
* 1 2 "125th anniversary to be 'momentous' occasion". Otago Daily Times. 21 June 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
* ↑ "Waitaki Boys' High School". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
* ↑ Tyrrell, A. R. (Ron) (1983). STRONG TO ENDURE, Waitaki Boys' High School 1883 – 1983. Waitaki High School Old Boys' Association (Incorporated). p. 21.
* ↑ "New Zealand Equity Index". New Zealand Ministry of Education.
* ↑ "School Equity Index Bands and Groups". www.educationcounts.govt.nz. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
* ↑ "Secondary schools". Cyclopedia of New Zealand (Otago & Southland Provincial Districts). Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company. 1905. p. 514. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ "New inspector of schools". Otago Daily Times. 21 April 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ Lee, Gregory. "Milner, Frank". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ Ogilvie, Gordon. "Burrows, James Thomas". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ "Mr John Hammond Donaldson, educator". The Press. 11 June 1997. p. 24.
* ↑ "Paradise trustees 2014". Friends of Paradise. 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ Guild, Ben (20 August 2011). "Time for a change of direction and pace". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ Jamieson, Lee (6 October 2015). "Waitaki Boys' High School rector resigns". Timaru Herald. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
* ↑ From Bluff to Baghdad, Te Karaka, Winter 2005.
* ↑ Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. p. 303. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
* ↑ Ryan, Rebecca (31 May 2013). "Living Everest dream". Oamaru Mail. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
* ↑ Shand, John (5 August 2021). "Newsman engendered something close to reverence in viewers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
* ↑ "Greg McGee". The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
* ↑ Brown, Bruce. "Nordmeyer, Arnold Henry – Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
* ↑ McConnell, Lynn (10 October 2000). "Hore making up for lost time". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 January 2023.