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| Macleans College | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
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| Coordinates | 36°53′00″S174°54′55″E / 36.8833°S 174.9152°E /-36.8833; 174.9152 |
| Information | |
| Type | State co-educational |
| Motto | Virtue Mine Honour |
| Established | 1980 |
| Ministry of Education Institution no. | 41 |
| Principal | Steven Hargreaves (2017 - present) |
| Grades | Secondary |
| Enrolment | 2,989[2](October 2025) |
| Socio-economic decile | 9Q[3] |
| Website | www.macleans.school.nz |
Macleans College is aco-educational statesecondary school located inEastern Beach,Auckland,New Zealand. The school is named after the Scottish MacLean family who lived and farmed the land of the school and surrounding reserves, and the school emblem contains the castle from their family crest along with six waves which symbolise the seaside location of the school.[4]Metro placed Macleans College as the number one Auckland high school in 2010 among those in theCambridge International Examinations system.[5] In 2014, Macleans College ranked 2nd nationally in the Cambridge International Examinations.
The school is named after the MacLean family. Robert andEvery Maclean immigrated to New Zealand fromScotland. The family farmed the areas of land located inHowick that is the school's current location, as well as the surrounding government controlled reserves.[6][7]
The school was opened in 1980 by thenGovernor General SirDavid Beattie with an initial roll of 199 students.[4] The first principal was Colin Prentice, who later became director ofWorld Vision in New Zealand, followed by his deputy Allan McDonald in 1989. In 2000, upon McDonald's retirement, Byron J. Bentley,[8] became principal.[9] Since 2018, upon Bentley's retirement, Steven Hargreaves became the new principal, and has been serving the school ever since.[10]
In 2015, the school auditorium was renamed the 'Colin Prentice Auditorium' in honour of the late founding principal after his death. In 2017, Byron Bentley announced his retirement as principal. He stood as the longest serving principal of the school, governing for 18 years.[11] An official student publication "The Collegian" launched in 2018.[12]
Upon admission, pupils are placed into one of the eight 'whanau houses'. These houses are named after significant New Zealanders, and the traits and achievements of this person influences the houses environment, charity and what it encourages. The selection is random, unless the student has or had any sibling or parent attend the school wherein the student has an option to be enrolled in the same house, or be randomly placed in any of the other seven.
The WhanauHouse system at Macleans divides the school into houses of about 300 students each, with two form classes of 30 or so students for each year level, all from the same house. The 'whanau house' system had previously been trialled at Penrose High School (nowOne Tree Hill College) by modifying existing buildings, but Macleans College was the first state school in New Zealand to be purpose-built around the system. Recently though, with the influx of new students, some houses have 3 form classes per year or more to accommodate the students.
| House name | Named after | House mascot | House colour | Year opened | Service Aspect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary | Sir Edmund Hillary | Yeti | Green | 1980 | Himalayan Trust[13] |
| Kupe | Kupe | Kiwi | Gold | 1981 | Kiwis for Kiwi[14] |
| Rutherford | Sir Ernest Rutherford | Elephant | Red | 1982 | Hato Hone St John[15] |
| Mansfield | Katherine Mansfield | 'Dog' fromFootrot Flats | Purple | 1984 | Guide dogs |
| Te Kanawa | Dame Kiri Te Kanawa | Taniwha | Dark Blue | 1987 | Child Cancer Foundation |
| Batten | Jean Batten | Buzzy Bee | Platinum | 1998 | Westpac Rescue Helicopter |
| Snell | Sir Peter Snell | Black panther | Black | 2001 | Halberg Trust |
| Upham | Charles Upham | Lion | Light Blue | 2003 | RSA |
The original houses were Kupe, Hillary, Te Kanawa and Rutherford, although Hillary was rebuilt and reopened on 29 October 1992 after it burnt down on 13 October 1991.[4] Mansfield House was hastily opened in 1984 due to a surge in the school's roll, however the building itself was used earlier as temporary classrooms, having been airlifted via helicopter as prefabricated units.[16] More houses have been added as the roll has increased, with the latest addition beingUpham, which was opened in 2003.
Each term, the school organises House Sports during lunchtimes. Four sports are played across the year, with one designated for each term: Mixed Football, Mixed Speedball, Mixed Netball, and Dodgeball. In recent years, Upham House has emerged as the most dominant house.
Macleans College is located inMacleans Park, the largest passive reserve in the Howick/Pakuranga district.[17] Due to its sloping terrain, the school has wide views of the adjacent Eastern Beach,Waiheke Island,Motutapu Island,Motuihe Island,Rangitoto Island and theCoromandel Peninsula. The property where Macleans is located on was bought from theCrown byNgāi Tai ki Tāmaki for $97 million in 2021.[18]
Each Whanau House has a one-storey building (with the exception of Batten, which has two due to being on a slope). This is due to a ban of buildings of over one storey in the whole Bucklands Beach-Eastern Beach area due to the scenery. Each house contains around 5 classrooms and 1 science lab and sometimes a computer lab, and often several associated prefabs (Kupe, Mansfield, Te Kanawa, Batten). Each Whanau House building also has a large central indoor commons area, which, along with being a general purpose socialising space, is used for house assemblies, lunch eating, and various co-curricular activities. Hillary, Kupe, Rutherford and Te Kanawa were built to a common design plan, known as the Whanau plan or S80 plan. Classroom blocks nearly identical to these were also built at Penrose High School and atMountainview High School in Timaru. However these buildings have since been rebuilt according to new plan allowing for less classrooms and larger open commons spaces.
The school also contains specialised non-house associated Science, Technology, Computing, Graphics, Art, Music, and Engineering buildings, along with the large Barbara Kendall gymnasium, a large covered recreational area (The Macleans Cloud), and the Colin Prentice auditorium (named after Maclean's former principal) for productions and performance. Slightly north of the school, still located on the reserve, is the Macleans College Bentley Pavilion (named after former principal Byron Bentley), the Macleans College Hockey Turf, and the Macleans College Turf (used for football and rugby). To accommodate a growing student population, the school constructed the International Block, comprising a row of ten classrooms. Classrooms 1–5 were built in 2023 at the lower end of the Macleans Cloud, while Classrooms 6–10 were completed in 2024 adjacent to the gymnasium.
In July 2025, through the government's Budget 25 scheme, Macleans College received funding for 8 new classrooms to combat the growing population in the surrounding area. It was later announced in November 2025 that Macleans College would build a new ninth house.
At the May 2014Education Review Office (ERO) review of the school, Macleans College had 2271 students, not including 304 international students. Fifty-three percent of students were male and 47 percent were female. The school had an Asian majority with 54 percent of students identifying as such, including 31 percent asChinese and 11 percent asIndian. Forty percent of students identified as European, including 27 percent asNew Zealand European (Pākehā).Māori made up three percent andPacific Islanders make up one percent of the roll.[19]
As of 2025, Macleans College has anEquity Index of 387,[20] placing it amongst schools whose students have the fewest socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 9 and 10 under the formersocio-economic decile system).[21]
The colleges main foreign student demographic is Chinese in ethnicity, though other students from Germany, Hungary, Brazil, Japan, Nepal etc. are also present.[22]
In 2013, 97.6 percent of students leaving Macleans College held at least NCEA Level 1 or IGCSE, 95.5 percent held at least NCEA Level 2 or AS, and 86.2 percent held at least University Entrance standard. This is compared to 85.2%, 74.2%, and 49.0% respectively for all students nationally.[23]
Until 2018, Macleans College offered both NCEA Level 1 and IGCSE in Year 11 as pathways into NCEA Level 2 and CIE AS Level. However, in response to external pressures and a commitment to better preparing students for their Year 12 and 13 examinations, the school made the strategic decision to move away from these curricula. In their place, Macleans College developed the Macleans Certification (MCERT). MCERT incorporates the most valuable elements of both IGCSE and NCEA Level 1, providing students with a rigorous and well-rounded foundation for senior academic success.
B J Bentley MA
McIntosh, a product of Macleans College, Auckland
Colin Craig was in the third form at Macleans College in Bucklands Beach, East Auckland, during the 1981 Springbok Tour, so asking what side he was on, pro or anti-tour, is not as relevant as it is to Key's position.
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