Ōtaki College is an intermediate and secondary school located in Ōtaki, in the north of the

Kāpiti Coast Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to: * Kapiti (New Zealand electorate), a former Parliamentary electorate *Kāpiti Coast District, a local government district *Kapiti Island * Kapiti Coast Airport * Kāpiti College *Kāpiti Expressway * Kapiti Fine Food ...

in New Zealand. With a roll of in , the college has been recognised for achieving success in spite of its Decile 4 ranking.

History

In 1909 a school for Māori boys, Ōtaki Māori College, was established alongside a hostel dedicated for Māori use. The college building was built near the Rangiātea Church which had been built nearly 50 years earlier by

Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha ( – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira, warlord, and chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi. One of the most powerful military leaders of the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha fought a war of conquest that greatly expanded Ngāti Toa south ...

. The new school, whose board of trustees controversially did not include Māori representatives, included an assembly hall, two large class rooms, to accommodate 100 pupils for technical education. In 1918 during the influenza epidemic, one of the teachers Cybele Kirk converted the assembly hall into a clinic holding 30 beds. This school for Māori boys was closed in 1939. Before the present Ōtaki College was established, students from Ōtaki and the surrounding area had to travel north to Horowhenua College to receive education. As New Zealand's school-age population grew markedly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was growing public pressure to establish a school in the region. The school was founded as Ōtaki District High School on 2 February 1959, and officially opened on 3 March 1960 by

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

Philip Skoglund Philip Oscar Selwyn Skoglund (14 June 1899 – 2 November 1975) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party who served as a cabinet minister. Biography Early life and career Skoglund was born in Greymouth in 1899, and educated at Stra ...

. By 1961 the roll had grown to 217, and the school was formally incorporated as a college. At this time it also catered to manual training primary school students. Through the 1960s and 1970s, several facilities were constructed including a swimming pool, library, and gymnasium. The assembly hall block was officially opened in 1964 by

Governor-general Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Bernard Fergusson Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, (6 May 1911 – 28 November 1980) was a British Army officer and military historian who served as the tenth governor-general of New Zealand from 1962 to 1967. He was the last British-born pe ...

Demographics and relationship with Māori

As of , Ōtaki College has an

Equity Index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...

of , placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to decile 4 under the former

socio-economic decile In the education in New Zealand, New Zealand education system, decile was a key measure of socioeconomic status used to target funding and support schools. In academic contexts the full term "socioeconomic decile" or "socioeconomic decile band" wa ...

system). In 2014, the school is rated as Decile 4L, meaning a higher-than-average proportion of its students come from low-income households. In 2014, Ōtaki College was one of seven schools in New Zealand identified by the

Education Review Office The Education Review Office (ERO; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with reviewing and publicly reporting on the quality of education and care of students in all New Zealand schools and early childhood services. Leader ...

as the highest-performing low decile schools. More than half of students at Ōtaki College are Māori, the majority of whom are from

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi (tribe) with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupō and Manawatū/ Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti ...

, the local

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

of Ōtaki. The school engages closely with Ngāti Raukawa, including through the board of trustees, learning plans, and in the college's tikanga and kawa. Each year, new students are welcomed to the college through a

pōwhiri A pōwhiri (also called a pōhiri or pōwiri in some dialects) is a formal Māori culture, Māori welcoming ceremony onto a marae, involving speeches, cultural performance, singing and finally the ''hongi''. Traditionally, the was a way by whi ...

Raukawa Marae Raukawa may refer to : * Raukaua, plant * Ngāti Raukawa, tribe * Merepeka Raukawa-Tait (fl. 2000s), New Zealand activist * Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The s ...

Notable alumni

Ōtaki College has produced several national representative sportspeople, including Olympic Kayaker John MacDonald, Commonwealth Games high-jumper Kelley O'Hagan, and

Silver Fern ''Alsophila tricolor'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Cyathea dealbata'', commonly known as the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga or punga (from Māori language, Māori or ),The Māori word , pronounced , has been borrowed into Ne ...

Katarina Cooper.

References

External links

*
School Website
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1959 Secondary schools in the Wellington Region Kāpiti Coast District Schools in the Kāpiti Coast District 1959 establishments in New Zealand