Naenae College, is a state-runcoeducationalsecondary school located in north-centralLower Hutt, New Zealand. It is situated on a 12-hectare (30-acre) site[4] in the suburb ofAvalon. The school was founded in 1953 to serve theNaenaestate housing development, although the school is located in the suburb ofAvalon.
The school has an enrolment of 818 students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) as of November 2024.[3] Chris Taylor took over as Principal from acting principal John Russell in October 2023.[5]
The 2023 report from theEducation Review Office (ERO) identified multiple areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process, and observed that"the school has noticed reduced retention, attendance and engagement."[6]
In the most recent 'Managing National Assessment Report' by theNew Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), conducted in 2018, it was stated,"This review identified inconsistencies in resubmission practice where some teachers offer resubmissions to all students regardless of their grades."[7]
Construction ofNaenae began the late 1940s under Prime MinisterPeter Fraser and theFirst Labour Government. It was supposed to become a "designer community" of suburban state housing. With the raising of the school leaving age from fourteen to fifteen in 1944,[8] the expansion of Naenae and wider Lower Hutt, and the start of thepost-World War II baby boom, Naenae College was built to accommodate secondary school students north of central Lower Hutt.
Naenae College was a prototype for a standardised building design to be used at other new secondary schools across New Zealand. The school was built with long two-story wings of classrooms facing onto corridors, constructed with reinforced concrete on the first level and timber above that. However, construction of the so-called "Naenae type school" was too slow and expensive for a large scale building programme, and subsequently, the Naenae type was largely replaced with a single-storey all-timber version known as the "Henderson type school". Both types lasted four years before being phased out in 1957 in place of self-contained classroom blocks.[9]
The school opened for instruction at the beginning of 1953.
In 2019 it was announced that due to monetary trouble, theMinistry of Education wiped $760,000 of $1m still owed by Naenae College from a 1.6 million dollar loan it received in 2004, this was largest loan ever given to a school by the Crown. Principal Nic Richards had written to the Ministry advising that the servicing of the debt meant that the school's property was in "very poor condition", and it reduced the resources that were available to students.[6]
Naenae College is one of 790 low decile schools in New Zealand that is part of the free school lunch programme.[10][11]
Naenae College does not operate an enrolment scheme, so the school is open to enrolment from any eligible student. Its effective service area is central-north Lower Hutt, including the suburbs of Avalon,Belmont,Boulcott,Epuni,Fairfield,Kelson,Taitā, Naenae andWingate. Naenae College is easily accessible from most of the Hutt Valley, with bus routes toPetone, central Lower Hutt,Stokes Valley andUpper Hutt passing outside the school's front gate,[12][13] andNaenae Railway Station a five-minute walk away.
Naenae College has a roll of 748 students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18); with 34% Maori, 22% Pacifika, 23% European and 37% other nationalities. The college currently enrols 30 adult education students and 20 in a Year 12 service academy.[14]
As of 2024, Naenae College has anEquity Index of 504,[15] placing it amongst schools whose students have many socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 2 and 3 under the formersocio-economic decile system).[16]
Naenae College's NCEA level 1 results from 2018 to 2022.
In 2022, 63.6% of Maori students leaving Naenae College held at leastNCEA Level 1,[17] 43.6% held at least NCEA Level 2,[18] 12.7% held at least NCEA Level 3, and 9.2% held at least University Entrance.[19]
The crest was made by R. Barclay - Staff Member.[47]
Motto
Māori:Kia Ihi, kia maru. (Be strong, be steadfast in your identity.)
Other elements
The 'cross' stands for the Christian principles on which the community is founded upon.
The 'four stars' represent the Southern Cross which is a symbol of New Zealand.
The 'wavy blue and silver lines' represent the Hutt River, near the College.
The 'keys' are symbols of knowledge and represent the work of the College in education.
On the top of the shield is a Maori symbol, the Tekoteko, surmounting a European symbol, the Knight's helmet; and on either side of these is decorative mantling. These symbols represent the multi-cultural traditions of the College and community.
^Bourke, Chris (27 November 2013)."Bill & Boyd – Person".Audio Culture: The noisy library of New Zealand music. Digital Media Trust (Simon Grigg, Murray Cammick, Steven Shaw).Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved29 March 2014.
