Established 1960 Principal Michael Williams Socio-economic decile 7O Founded 1960 | Ministry of Education Institution no. 80 School roll 2173 (July 2016) Phone +64 9-534 7159 Ministry of education institution number 80 | |
Type State co-ed Secondary School Year 9-13 Address Pigeon Mountain Rd, Half Moon Bay, Auckland 2012, New Zealand Motto Caelum Certe Patet; ('Reach for the skies) Profiles | ||
Pakuranga college
Pakuranga College is a co-educational secondary school in east Auckland, New Zealand. The school is named after the suburb it is located in, Pakuranga. The school emblem is the pegasus and the motto "Caelum Certe Patet".
Contents
- Pakuranga college
- Pakuranga college girls boys basketball tournament 2k16
- History
- Principals
- Ribena
- School buildings
- House System
- References
The school takes pride in its cultural diversity and its high achievement in Academics, Sports and Leadership. The current principal is Michael Williams, as of 2009.
Pakuranga college girls boys basketball tournament 2k16
History
The school was built on part of an old dairy farm that was known for its swampy soil in winter. The school initially opened on 7 October 1961 by R M Algie. The founding principal was Kenneth Rae with an initial roll of 312 students and 17 staff members.
Principals
In total, the school has seen a total 7 principals: Kenneth Rae was the head of the college till 1967, taken over by Ernest Rive. From 1978, Stan Seager was the principal. The school then saw leadership from Pamela Stone from 1987 to 2003. Bali Haque was principal during 2003 - 2006. Prior to being principal, Haque was formerly president of the Secondary Principal's Association and also was principal at Rosehill College. He then went on to be the Deputy Chief Executive of NZQA. After Haque, Heather McRae, who was Associate principal under Haque, became principal of 2006 to 2009. McRae left on a promotion to be principal of Diocesan School for Girls and was replaced by the current principal, Michael Williams from Aorere College.
Ribena
As part of a school science project in 2004 at Pakuranga College, two 14-year-old school girls (Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo) discovered that Ribena, a blackcurrant fruit juice drink sold in 100 ml ready-to-drink containers contained very little Vitamin C, contrary to advertising for the product. Approaches by the two teens to the company did not resolve the issue but the matter was publicized on national consumer affairs television show Fair Go and came to the attention of the Commerce Commission (a government funded 'consumer watch-dog'). The commission's testing found that Ribena contained no detectable vitamin C. On 27 March 2007, GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty in an Auckland District Court to 15 charges relating to misleading conduct, and was fined $217,000.
School buildings
Pakuranga College has traditionally named its blocks of classrooms after past principals and staff. This is evident in all the principals from Mr Rae to Ms Stone having classroom blocks named after them:
There are a number of other buildings throughout the school, given generic names.
House System
The students of Pakuranga College are divided into six different houses named after New Zealand native trees. Each house is represented by a color and mascot. Although the students are not physically separated into these houses, it acts a system of administration. The only time students are in house groups on a daily basis is through 'tutor groups'. This is for pastoral support of students such as attendance and the daily notices of co-curricular activities.
Students also participate in school events in house groups. Such events include the school swimming sports, athletics day and other inter-house competitions including House Arts.
Houses each contain 14 tutor groups and headed by two Deans of the house.