Pakuranga College is a co-educational secondary school in east

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The college is named after the suburb it is located in,

Pakuranga Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gu ...

. The school emblem is the pegasus and the motto "Caelum Certe Patet". The current principal is Michael Williams, as of 2021.

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

Ronald Algie Sir Ronald Macmillan Algie (22 October 1888 – 23 July 1978) was a New Zealand politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives for six years in the 1960s. He described himself as "a Tory in the old tradition". Early life Alg ...

. 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 from 2003 to 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 to be principal of Diocesan School for Girls and was replaced by the current principal, Michael Williams from

Aorere College Aorere College is a New Zealand co-educational state secondary school (Years 9–13) that was established in 1964 in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe. The current principal of the college is Leanne Webb. As of , there are approximately stude ...

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 Ribena ( ) is a brand of blackcurrant-based soft drink (both uncarbonated and carbonated), and fruit drink concentrate designed to be mixed with water. It is available in bottles, cans and multi-packs. Originally of British origin, it was prod ...

, a blackcurrant fruit juice drink sold in 100 ml ready-to-drink containers contained very little

Vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...

, contrary to advertising for the product. Approaches by the two teens to the company did not resolve the issue but the matter was publicised on national consumer affairs television show ''

Fair Go ''Fair Go'' is a New Zealand consumer affairs television programme hosted by Pippa Wetzell and Hadyn Jones. First aired in 1977, it is New Zealand's second longest-running local programme (after '' Country Calendar''). It is also highest-rate ...

'' 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: *Rae Block – a general purpose block, with a strong focus on the social sciences. *Rive Block – a general purpose block, containing science classrooms, computer labs and the languages department. *Seager Block – the mathematics block, containing all the mathematics offices. *Pamela Stone Block – the English block. *Jill Sweeny Block – the most recently built science block, containing most of the schools' science classrooms (Chemistry, Biology and Physics). The block is named after the former science teacher and head of department, Jill Sweeny, who contributed a lot to the science department. 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.

Notable alumni

Jami-Lee Ross Jami-Lee Matenga Ross (born 1985) is a New Zealand former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Botany electorate in Auckland from the March 2011 Botany by-election, when he became the youngest MP at the time, until 2020. He ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, leader of

Advance New Zealand The Advance New Zealand Party (abbreviated as Advance NZ or Advance) was a short-lived political party in New Zealand from 2020 to 2021. The idea was first unveiled in a newsletter from founder Jami-Lee Ross in April 2020. Ross has claimed th ...

* Michael Wood,

for Mt Roskill, 28th

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

*Jenny Suo, Television News Reporter for

1 News ''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...

References

{{Authority control Secondary schools in Auckland Educational institutions established in 1961 1961 establishments in New Zealand