Burnside High School

Burnside High School
(Waimairi-iri)

Aerial view of Burnside High
Latin: Recte Sic Dirige Cursum
Thus direct thy path aright (In this way direct your course correctly)
Address
Greers Road
Burnside
Christchurch 8053
New Zealand
Coordinates 43°30′27″S 172°34′34″E / 43.5075°S 172.5762°E / -43.5075; 172.5762Coordinates: 43°30′27″S 172°34′34″E / 43.5075°S 172.5762°E / -43.5075; 172.5762
Information
Funding type State, non-integrated
Established 1960
Ministry of Education Institution no. 319
Principal Phil Holstein
Years offered 9–13
Gender Coeducational
School roll 2518[1] (March 2016)
Socio-economic decile 8P[2]
Website burnside.school.nz

Burnside High School (BHS) (Māori: Waimairi-iri) is a state co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, New Zealand. With a roll of 2518 students,[1] it is the largest school in New Zealand outside Auckland, and is among the country's six largest schools.

History

Burnside High School started construction in 1959. Like most New Zealand state secondary schools built in the 1960s, the school is structurally a "Nelson 2H" school. The Nelson 2H is distinguished by its two-storey H-shaped classroom blocks, with stairwells at each end of the block and a large ground floor toilet and cloak area on one side.[3] Burnside has five of these blocks: A, B, D, E and F blocks.

A swimming pool was added in 1961, which became fully functional in 1964 after the addition of filtration equipment. The gymnasium was soon constructed afterwards. In 2004 and 2005 construction of a new block, library and administration area began. These were opened in 2006 by Helen Clark, then Prime Minister of New Zealand. The school's fiftieth jubilee was held in 2010, attended by John Key, an ex-pupil and Prime Minister of New Zealand. Following damage caused by the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Avonside Girls' High School shared the facilities of Burnside High School. Avonside Girls' High School relocated back to their home site in 2012.[4] Burnside High School, due to being relatively undamaged and with power and water restored shortly after the quake, was used as a welfare centre by Civil Defence.[5]

On 28 March 2012 the school was put into lockdown after students reported seeing a man walking the grounds carrying a silver pistol, which was later found by police to be plastic.[6]

Enrolment

Burnside, like many secondary schools in Christchurch, operates an enrolment scheme to help curb roll numbers and prevent overcrowding. The school's home zone, in which students residing are automatically entitled to be enrolled without rejection, covers parts of northwestern Christchurch, roughly bounded in the north by Wairakei Road; in the east by Idris Road, Glandovey Road and Clyde Street; in the south by Creyke Road and Maidstone Road; and in the west by Russley Road (State Highway 1), and includes the suburbs of Burnside and Bryndwr, and parts of Bishopdale, Fendalton, Ilam and Avonhead.[7][8] Students residing outside the zone are accepted as roll places allow per the enrollment scheme order of preference and secret ballot.

At the August 2013 Education Review Office (ERO) review of the school, the school had 2416 students enrolled, including 135 international students. Forty-seven percent of students were male and 53 percent were female. Sixty-three percent of students identified as European (including 56 percent as New Zealand European or Pākehā), 22 percent as Asian, eight percent as Māori, two percent as Pacific Islanders, and five percent as another ethnicity.[9]

Structure

The school is split into four divisions - North, South, West and Senior, the first three consisting of students from Years 9-12 (Equivalent Grade 8 - 11) and Senior division consisting of only Year 13 (Grade 12) students. Each division has a guidance counsellor, three deans and a divisional principal and, in addition, Senior Division includes a careers advisor. The school has a Principal, Second Principal, Assistant Principal, 3 Divisional Principals, 12 deans and 13 Heads of Department.

Current Leadership/Management:

Principal: Phil Holstein - commenced in 2015. He replaced Warwick Maguire.[10]

Second Principal: Richard Barnett[11]

Assistant Principal : Alan Robertson

North Divisional Principal: Matt White[12]

West Divisional Principal: Sally-Ann Goodman

South Divisional Principal: Elizabeth Harrison (Acting)[13]

Motto, crest and colours

The school motto is Recte Sic Dirige Cursum, which means Thus direct thy path aright, or In this way direct your course correctly.

The school's crest is a cabbage tree, due to the historic importance of a group of cabbage palms situated on the school grounds. These trees were used as an important landmark by Maori travellers before European settlement of Canterbury.

The school uniform colours are green and white.

Grounds and facilities

The school consists of 14 blocks containing classrooms, labeled from A to N, and X, a library and administration building (also containing a sick bay and student office), two gyms, a pool, a canteen, an auditorium that seats 750 people, and numerous sports fields and courts situated on the grounds, which are a total of 16.2 hectares (40 acres) in size.

The school has a school-broadcast system designed as an Armed Intruder Lockdown Scheme in the event of a Virginia Tech style school shooting, which informs teachers and students of an armed intruder, and safety measures to be taken to ensure classrooms and buildings are locked down for safety. On March 28, 2012 Burnside High School had a lockdown due to students witnessing a person walking through school grounds with a "gun". The school went into lockdown for approximately 45 minutes until police gave the all clear. The armed offenders squad and police were called in and television crews were outside school gates. It was later revealed that it was only a toy gun and nothing malicious was afoot.[6]

Notable alumni

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Directory of Schools - as at 18 April 2016". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
  2. ↑ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Catalogue of Standard School Building Types" (PDF). Christchurch: Ministry of Education. August 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Sue Hume (July 2011). "Avonside Newsletter 'Tatler' - July 2011" (PDF). Avonside Girls' High School. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
  5. ↑ "Christchurch Earthquake: What you need to know". nzherald.co.nz. 27 February 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Toy sparks gun scare at school". Stuff.co.nz. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "eLearning Schools Search". Te Kete Ipurangi. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "Enrolments". Burnside High School. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Burnside High School Education Review". Education Review Office. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Burnside High appoints new principal, Jody O'Callaghan, Last updated 13:55 23/09/2014
  11. ↑ http://learn.burnside.school.nz/course/view.php?id=635
  12. ↑ Burnside High School Newsletter - Principals report: Staff news
  13. ↑ http://learn.burnside.school.nz/course/view.php?id=635
  14. ↑ "Biography - John Key". Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  15. ↑ Rookie Report: Shou Nisbet

References

External links

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