Naenae College


Naenae College, is a state-run coeducational secondary school located in north-central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is situated on a site in the suburb of Avalon. The school was founded in 1953 to serve the Naenae state housing development, although the school is located in the suburb of Avalon.
The school has an enrolment of students from Years 9 to 13 as of Chris Taylor took over as Principal from acting principal John Russell in October 2023.

History

Construction of Naenae began the late 1940s under Prime Minister Peter Fraser and the First 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, the expansion of Naenae and wider Lower Hutt, and the start of the post-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.
The school opened for instruction at the beginning of 1953.
In the most recent 'Managing National Assessment Report' by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 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."
In 2019 it was announced that due to monetary trouble, the Ministry 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.
The 2023 report from the Education Review Office identified multiple areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process, and observed that "the school has noticed reduced retention, attendance and engagement."
Naenae College is one of 790 low decile schools in New Zealand that is part of the free school lunch programme.

Enrolment

As of, Naenae College has a roll of students, of which identify as Māori.
As of, Naenae College has an Equity Index of, placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement.

Academic performance

In 2024, 67.8% of students leaving Naenae College attained at least NCEA Level 1, 62.8% attained at least NCEA Level 2, and 41.0% attained at least NCEA Level 3. For schools of a similar equity index, the attainment rates were 77.0%, 65.9%, and 42.1% respectively.

Board of trustees

The Naenae College Board of Trustees consists of eleven elected and appointed members.

Principals

Notable staff

  • Bruce Murray, international cricketer – served as principal from 1981 to 1988
  • Allan Peachey, former New Zealand politician and MP - Former Head of Commerce Department

    Notable alumni

Business