Education in Nelson region - 1842-2012

The Nelson Province played an important role in the history of New Zealand education. It was the first Province to initiate free public education, based on Matthew Campbell's secular school system, which became the model for the country. It had the first secondary school in New Zealand (Catholic) and the first secular secondary school, plus there is Wakefield School; the oldest continuous public school in New Zealand.

A timeline

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Portrait of Matthew Campbell, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection, 69466/3
Click to enlarge

1842-1900 ; 1901-1920 ; 1921-1940 ; 1941-1960 ; 1961-  

1842

• March 27 - the first private school in the Nelson settlement opens in a house made of toi toi, in December it moves to a specially built room in Tasman Street
• September 12: The Nelson Branch of the British and Foreign School Society, with land and financial support from the Nelson Wakefield Company (forerunner of New Zealand Company), opens the first public school in Nelson, located in Bridge Street near the eel pond. The headmaster is William Moore. It closes following the Wairau Affray in June 1843
• October: The Nelson School Society under the leadership of Matthew Campbell establishes the Nelson Day school  [note - some sources say the School was established February 1844].    

1843

• Mary Ann Baigent sets up a household school at her home, this is the start of Wakefield School. On 8 October 1843 the school moves to a cob cottage belonging to Mr Wilkinson. The cottage is located just below St Johns Church.  Mr Wilkinson is the first schoolmaster.

1844

• January 1: An official opening ceremony is held for the Wakefield Branch School. Wakefield School is the oldest continuous public school in New Zealand
• January 21: ‘Bishop's School' (Bishop Selwyn's Anglican School), a Church of England Elementary School is built in Nile Street, Nelson.

1845

• May 18: Spring Grove School is opened
• December 28th: A school opens in Brook Green (the original name for Stoke) Later to become Stoke School.

1846

• February 16: The Nelson School Society opens Richmond School on the corner of Salisbury Road and Main Street, Richmond
• The Nelson School Scoeity also opens the first Waimea West School. 

1848

• The Lutheran's open Ranzau School in Waimea East
• Riwaka School opens
• The Roman Catholic School (later St. Josephs School) opens.

1851

• The first secondary school for boys in New Zealand opens in Nelson - a Marist (Catholic)  School run by Brother Moreau. Earlier in the year, Father Garin opens a Catholic boys "first" school

  Father Antoine Garin, circa 1870. Photographer unidentified, Alexander Turnbull Library,1/4016333F  Click to enlarge
• The Nelson School Society opens "Hope School" in Waimea East and Spring Grove School.

1852

• Hope Public School opens in Hope.

1855

• River Terrace School opens in Brightwater.

1856

• July: The Nelson Education Act of 1856 is passed, based on Matthew Campbell's school system. The Act made the Nelson Province the first in New Zealand to have public schools at which no fees are charged - a Central Board is established to run them. The schools are to be funded through taxation and public revenue
• Nelson College opens in temporary premises in Manuka Street
• October 8th: Richmond Primary School opens. Attendance is compulsory for both girls and boys
• Pangatōtara School was listed as being under the auspices of the Provincial Government - this was the first listing, so it may have been open for longer.¹

1857

• Richmond Primary School's present site is purchased for 50 pounds
• A School opens in the home of Pastor Heine in Sarau. It later becomes Upper Moutere School
• Motueka Primary School opens in Motueka (it's becomes Parklands School in 1956)
• Wai-iti School (formerly Upper Wakefield School) opens.

Appleby School Playing fields. Image supplied by Katherine Richards
Click to enlarge

1858

• The second Waimea West School opens.

1859

• Schools are established in Appleby and Collingwood. Bridge Street School is handed over to the Central Board.

1861

• Foxhill School opens.

1862

• The Lower Moutere Public School is established
• The Tākaka District High School (later Golden Bay High School) is established.

1863

• Eighty Eight Valley School in Wakefield opens

1868

• Hampden Street School opens
• Ngatimoti School opens, in fairly rough premises, with 18 children²
• The first Motupiko School opens. This was the first school to be established on the west side of the Spooners Range. The school was moved to a new site in 1877. The school merged with Tapawera Consolidated School in 1942
• Haven Road School made an independent school (formerly a branch of Bridge Street School, when it was also known as Saltwater Bridge School)

  Hampden Street School - rebuilt after 1892 fire. The Nelson Provincial Museum
  Click to enlarge

1869

• The 'old' Dovedale School opens. It is later demolished in 1969. In 1938 the old school is replaced by the present Dovedale School. 

1871

• St Marys School for Girls (Roman Catholic secondary school for girls) established. 

1874

• East Tākaka School is established. In Nelson a school is built at junction of Bridge and Tasman Streets (known as Bridge Street School, Town Boys or Tasman Street School).

1876

• Motueka Valley School opens. It is renamed Tapawera School in 1907.

1877

• New Zealand Education Act passed (modelled on the Nelson education system).

1878

• Nelson Central School is established
• Tadmor School opens.

1879

• Toi Toi Valley school opens.

1880

• A new Haven Road School built ( it became Nelson's largest school in the 1890's)
• Stanley Brook School opens.

1880-1881

• A new school for girls and junior boys is established in Brightwater and is called Brightwater School. Mrs Bryant is the Head Mistress
• Baton Valley School opens. The school later closed on 1st January 1928
• Sherry River School opens.

1882

• Brook Street School opens (2 Brook Street)
• Woodstock School opens.³

1883

• February 2nd: Nelson College for Girls opens, with Kate Edger as Headmistress
• Pokororo School opens.⁴

Kate Edger at Nelson College for Girls 1889, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection, part 179045/3
Click to enlarge

1885

• Upper Motupiko School (later known as Korere School) opens.

1888

• Pigeon Valley School opens
• Gordon School opens near the junction of Eighty Eight valley and Wai-iti Valley
• October: A new school for boys is officially opened in Brightwater. Thomas Warnock is the first principal.

1889

• Brightwater School (for girls) closes and pupils move to the Boy's School which becomes the new  Brightwater School.

1890

• Wangapeka School opens.

1891

• Wairoa Valley School (also referred to as Garden Valley or The Valley School) opens.

1892 - 1893

• Hampden Street School, Bridge Street School and Nelson's new Central School are set alight by an arsonist. The arsonist is caught in March 1893 and later sentenced to four years hard labour.

1893

• Land purchased for Nelson Central boys school - now the current site of Nelson Central School.

1894

• The Nelson School of Music is established. The new boys Central School is burned down. Johann Blecher is arrested for arson. August rebuilt boys Central School opened
• Orinoco School opens.⁵

1895

• Central School's lime trees are planted.

1897

• Hardy Street Girls School closes.

 1900

• St Marys School for Girls renamed Sacred Heart College.

1901

• Upper Tadmor School (later known as Kiwi School) opens.

1902

• Mixed education discussed; Boys Central remains for boys, Toi Toi for girls, Tasman Street and Brook Street are joined under one head and Hampden Street and Haven Road under another head.

1904

• The site of Salisbury School in Richmond is used as a boy's school - and used continuously for children with special needs for the next century
• Golden Downs School opens. 

1907

• Reduction in number of Nelson schools to two: Nelson Boys Central (encompassing Brook Street and Tasman Street) and Nelson Girls Central (encompassing Haven Road and Hampden Street)
• Matariki School opens. Officially known as Wangapeka School, with the name Matariki School being adopted in 1912.

1908

• Nelson Central Girls opened in Shelbourne Street
• Tāhuna (initially Tatahi) School, opens as a side school to Stoke. it becomes independent in 1913 and is renamed Tāhunanui School in 1922.

1909

• Wairoa valley School closes and the children are transferred to River terrace School.

1910

• Pangatōtara School closes.

1912

• Tui School opens.

1913

• Aporo School (later Tasman School) is established.

1915

• Māpua School is established.

1916

• Richmond Special School for Girls (later Salisbury School for Girls) opens on Salisbury Road Richmond.

1920

• River Terrace School in Brightwater closes.
• Wairoa Gorge School opens a short distance up the Wairora Gorge Road.

1923

• Hampden Street School becomes Nelson's first mixed School.

1927

Auckland Point School, Nelson PhotoNews 84(14), October 1967
Click to enlarge

• Auckland Point School opens - Haven Road School site sold to City Council
• Nelson Central Boys School is renamed Nelson Central School with the admittance of girls. The newly constituted school is made up of a main building in Nile Street and two separately located side schools - Brook Street School for Standards one and two and Tasman Street School for infants.

1929

• The present Upper Moutere School is built. The original classroom is towed by traction engine to the current site. It is thought to be the oldest classroom still in use in New Zealand.
• Eighty Eight valley School closes and the remaining pupils attend Koreke, a household school at Mrs Lukey's home.
• June 17: The Nelson College clock tower is destroyed and other school buildings are damaged during the Murchison earthquake

1930

• New Central Street school building opened
• Koreke School is consolidated (merged) with Wakefield School at the end of 1930.

1931

• Brightwater School's new wooden building is finished. The brick building had been damaged in the Murchison earthquake and was unsafe for pupils.

1938

• Wai-iti School (formerly Upper Wakefield School) closes and is consolidated (merged) with Wakefield School.
• Waimea West School closes and is consolidated with Brightwater School
• Wangapeka School closes.

1939

• Renwick House becomes part of Nelson Central School
• Stanley Brook School closes
• Pokororo School closes and is consolidated with Ngatimoti School.

1942

• 29th of May - Tapawera Consolidated High School officially opens with a roll of 175 students. The new primary school with a secondary school department combines, or consolidates, nine smaller schools on one site. The nine schools include: Tapawera, Golden Downs, Korere (formerly Upper Motupiko School), Motupiko, Sherry River, Kiwi (formerly upper Tadmor School), Tadmor, Matariki and Stanley Brook. The new school includes a dental clinic, woodwork and cooking facilities for students
• Tui School joins the new Tapawera Consolidated High School
• Woodstock School closes.

1944

• Gordon School closes and the remaining pupils are transferred to Foxhill School
• Totara Bush Household School closes.

1945

• Brook Street School closes as a school
• Wairoa Gorge School closes and children are transported to Brightwater School.

1948

• Nelson first free kindergarten was established in a public hall at Nelson South in October.

1949

• Bridge Street Kindergarten opened in May.

1950

• Pigeon Valley School officially closes. The school's pupils had been transported to Wakefield School from late 1949, due to the teacher being unwell.

1951

• Nelson Intermediate opens.

1955

• Motueka District High School opens in Whakarewa Street, Motueka.

1956

• Grove Steet Kindergarten opened in their own buildings December.

1957

• February 5th: Waimea College opens.

1958

• Nelson South Kindergarten opens in present location in July.

1959

• February 5th: Waimea Intermediate opens.

1960

• Stoke Kindergarten opened in November.

1962

• November 28th: Henley School opens. Its name is decided by public vote, following a "name the school" competition. Henley was the name given to the area by one of the early settlers who came from Henley on Thames, England.

1963

• Richmond Kindergarten oped in September .

1966

• Nayland College opens.

1970

• Sacred Heart College renamed Redwood College.

1971

Nelson Technical College [predecessor of Polytechnic], sewing hats, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Kingsford Collection, 118111/6Click to enlarge

• Nelson Polytechnic established as a separate institution (was part of Nelson College for a period)
• Broadgreen Intermediate opens on November 13 in Stoke - on a field which used to be an orchard.

1974

• Spring Grove School closes and the children are given the choice of attending either Brightwater or Wakefield Schools.

1975

• In early 1975 Tapawera Area School is created, it is one of the first schools in New Zealand to become an Area School under new education reforms. 

1980

•  Tasman Street School for infants is relocated to Nelson Central School.

1982

• The first Kohanga Reo is established in Nelson
• Redwood College closes.

1984

• Kohanga Reo at Te Awhina Marae, Motueka opens.

1985

• Te Pouahi, the bi-lingual Maori/English language unit which began in Nelson Central School.

1988

• Mountain valley School opens to serve the children in the Graham Valley community.

1999

• January 27: Saint Paul's Catholic Primary School opens on Salisbury Road, Richmond.

2002

• February 23: Garin College in Champion Road, Stoke is blessed and officially opened. The college is named after Nelson's first Parish Priest who established schools in his time
• July: Motueka Rudolf Steiner School (Primary school) opens.

2012

•  Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tuia Te Matangi opens in Richmond.

Timeline originally drafted 2002 for the Nelson Provincial Museum and published on the Prow March 2010 with additions

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