# Whanganui Collegiate School

Whanganui Collegiate School is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican church. The school is the third oldest in New Zealand and its campus is registered as a category 1 historic place with Heritage New Zealand.

## History

The school was established in 1854 as the Native Industrial School by the Anglican Church from a land endowment from Sir George Grey. The school developed on this site but had low enrolment, with only 30 students in the early 1870s. In 1878 the school changed from allowing female enrolment to a boys school. In the 1880s the Cantabrigian Reverend Bache Wright Harvey was made headmaster. Under Harvey's tenure the school adopted the English public school model. Despite the school originally being established for 'the education of children of our subjects of all races and of children of poor and destitute persons' the change was supported by most including Sir George Grey. In 1882, under Harvey, the name of the school was changed to Wanganui Collegiate College
Until 1901 the school was the only form of secondary education in Whanganui for boys. Wanganui College School was made exempt from the 1903 Secondary School's Act due to its affiliation with the Anglican Church. The school became a private school using endowment to fund itself. During this period it attracted students from outside the town, who would board at the prestigious school. The school's prosperity led to an investigation in 1906 by the Education Trust Commission on whether the terms of the land grant were being abided. This investigation resulted in the school plan to move from its residential location on Victoria Avenue to a more remote site on Liverpool Street. In 1908 the firm Atkins and Bacon was hired to design a new campus at the Liverpool Street site. The Supreme Court granted the school board the right to receive a loan of up to £50,000. Work on the site began in 1908 and in 1909 the foundation stone was laid by Governor Lord Plunket, that year the contract was awarded to Nicholas Meuli to build six two-storey buildings. The campus was opened in Easter of 1911 by Governor Lord Islington. Not all construction had been completed and buildings from the old campus were moved on site to accommodate students and staff.
The new campus' chapel was not part of the loan the board received and instead was funded by the headmaster Walter Empson and an old boy's fund, due to Walter Empson's responsibilit for the project a different architect, William Gray Young, was chosen for the chapel. The chapel was dedicated in Easter 1912. Growth in enrolment lead to the chapel being extended through old boy's fundraising with re-dedicated occurring in September 1986.
During the 1960s the school reached a new peak enrolment of 342, to accommodate this new growth extra facilities were built. These facilities allowed the school to accommodate 545 students in 1976. During the late 1980s the amount of boarders decreased following a global trend and the 1987 stock market crash, the school roll subsequently declined and to bolster enrolment and finances senior girls were allowed to enrol in 1989. The new enrolments from female students were not enough to improve the school's finances and ultimately the Marris and Porritt Houses were converted into technology blocks in 1999. In 2009 the school board applied to the Ministry of Education for integration within the state system, by November 2012 this had occurred, despite a long process.
In 1984 a new auditorium was opened, name after Prince Edward who had served as a tutor at the school for two years prior. The auditorium also serves for private functions and the New Zealand Opera School. In 1994 the Izard Sports Centre was opened, named after Richard Izard who had funded a significant portion of it.
Since 2019, Collegiate has been one of three Round Square schools in New Zealand along with King's College and Christ's College.
In January 2019, the Whanganui Collegiate School Board of Trustees and Whanganui College Board of Trustees unanimously voted to add an 'h' to the spelling of 'Wanganui', following other local organisations and secondary schools after the Whanganui District was similarly renamed in November 2015.
In mid-2023, it was announced that Whanganui Collegiate School would replace NCEA Level 1 with Cambridge IGCSE from 2024.

## Houses

Following the establishment of the new campus a house system was established, the houses were: Grey, Selwyn, and Hadfield. Each house had its own building, courtyard, and ablution block. A fourth house, dedicated to the Headmaster Reverend Harvey was planned but was not completed until 1920 due to the costs, the same architectural firm and contractor were responsible for the building alongside a day facility, residence for the chaplain and steward, and a music room. Harvey's was constantly closed and reopened due to fluctuating enrolment numbers. In the 1960s Empson House was opened for junior boarders. A house for day students were later added as day student numbers grew and started to rival boarding students (in 1925 there were 222 boards versus 31 day students). In 1971, Governor-General Arthur Porritt opened Porritt House for day students. Godwin House was constructed in 1990 to accommodate newly accepted female students.

## Sport

The school grounds also host numerous sporting facilities, including the Izard Gymnasium, High Performance Cricket Centre, a water surface hockey turf, a full-sized Cross Country Course and many team sports fields. The nearby Whanganui River is used by students for rowing training and competitions; rowing being one of the sports in which Collegiate has traditionally excelled, having won the Maadi Cup 17 times, a national record. The Collegiate women's squad had a particularly strong year in 2006 when it won the most prestigious women's race in the lower north Island, the Levin Jubilee Trophy, for the first time. Unfortunately, such success could not be replicated on the national stage, with the u18 girls eight only managing bronze in the penultimate race of the 2007 Maadi Cup. The school also hosts the nationally popular Whanganui Cricket Festival each year which sees over 1000 cricketers display their skills throughout the month of January.
Since 1925, the school's 'First XV' rugby team has played Christ's College, Wellington College and Nelson College in an annual quadrangular rugby tournament, this Tournament is played at a different school every year playing at Collegiate once every four years. In recent times, this tournament has been dominated by Wellington College. Whanganui Collegiate last won in 1991.
Since 1994, The New Zealand Opera School has been hosted at Collegiate by Donald Trott.

## Notable alumni

* Brigadier Leslie Andrew, WW1 Victoria Cross & DSO recipient
* Chris Amon, Formula One racing driver, 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans champion
* Harriet Austin, rower
* Earl Bamber, professional racing driver, 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans champion
* Andrew Bayly, National Party MP
* Cameron Brewer, Auckland Councillor
* Tom Bruce, New Zealand international cricketer
* Robin Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon, Law Lord
* Mark Cooper, President of New Zealand Court of Appeal
* Professor Michael Corballis, professor of psychology
* Wyatt Creech, Deputy Prime Minister
* Simon Dickie, Olympic gold medalist in rowing
* Sir Harold Gillies, father of plastic surgery
* Leon Götz, National Party MP
* Sir Richard Harrison, National Party MP and Speaker of the House
* Volker Heine, physicist
* Joline Henry, Silver Fern netballer
* Nichkhun Horvejkul, Thai-American singer and actor based in South Korea, member of South Korean boy band 2PM
* Jimmy Hunter, member of The Original All Blacks
* Sir Roy Jack, National Party MP, Speaker of the House and Cabinet Minister
* Shehan Karunatilaka, Booker Prize winner
* David Kirk, All Black World Cup winning captain and former Chief Executive of Fairfax Media
* Patrick Marshall, geologist
* Hamish McDouall, Mayor of Whanganui
* Sir John McGrath, Solicitor-General and Supreme Court Justice
* Ian McKelvie, National Party MP
* Air Vice Marshal Cuthbert MacLean, RAF Officer
* Lloyd Morrison, businessman
* John Pattison (RNZAF officer), a Battle of Britain fighter pilot
* Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, former Governor-General of New Zealand, Olympic medallist
* Sir Hugh Rennie KC, lawyer and businessman
* Earle Riddiford, lawyer and mountaineer
* John Scott, former Director-General of the Fiji Red Cross
* Rebecca Scown, Olympic gold medalist in rowing
* Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, Fijian statesman
* Sir Brian Talboys, Deputy Prime Minister 1975–1981
* Sir Ron Trotter, businessman
* Jeremy Wells, television and radio personality
* Professor David Williams, Treaty of Waitangi and legal scholar

## Headmasters

* Charles Henry Sinderby Nicholls (1854–1865)
* Henry H Godwin (1865–1877)
* George Richard Saunders (1878–1882)
* Bache Wright Harvey (1882–1887)
* Walter Empson (1888–1909)
* Julian Llewellyn Dove (1909–1914)
* Hugh Latter (1914–1916)
* Patrick Marshall (1917–1922)
* Robert Guy Wilson (1922)
* Charles Frederick Pierce (1922–1931)
* John Allen (1932–1935)
* Frank Gilligan (1936–1954)
* Rab Bruce Lockhart (1954–1960)
* Thomas Wells (1960–1980)
* Ian McKinnon (1980–1988)
* Trevor Stanton McKinlay (1988–1995)
* Johnathan Rae Hensman (1995–2003)
* Craig Considine (2003–2008)
* Tim Wilbur (2008–2013)
* Chris Moller (2013–2017)
* Ross Brown (2017–2017) (acting)
* Wayne Brown (2018–present)