Aurora College is a state coeducational Year 7–13 secondary school located in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is New Zealand's southernmost stand-alone secondary school, and second southernmost secondary school after The Catlins Area School in

Owaka Owaka is a small town in the Clutha District of South Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested The Catlins, Catlins area, close to the border with Southland Region, Southland, some south o ...

History

Aurora College opened in 2005, although it has a history extending back to 1912. It was formed from the merger of Mt Anglem College and Tweedsmuir Junior High School, on the former Mt Anglem site. Mt Anglem College had operated for only six years, having opened in 1999 following the merger of Kingswell and Cargill High Schools on the existing Kingswell site. Cargill High School was the successor school to Southland College (formerly Southland Technical College) after the latter site become part of Southland Polytechnic in 1978. Kingswell High School, which was established in 1971, was built to the S68 plan which is characterised by single-storey classroom blocks of concrete block construction, with low-pitched roofs and internal open courtyards.

Enrolment

As of , Aurora College has roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , the school 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 the socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 1 and 2 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).

Notable staff

Notable staff of Aurora College or its predecessor institutions include: *

Jack Alabaster John Chaloner Alabaster (11 July 1930 – 9 April 2024) was a New Zealand cricketer who played 21 Test matches for the country's national team between 1955 and 1972. A leg-spin bowler, he was the only New Zealander to play in each of the count ...

, cricketer and educator * Austin Brookes, mountaineer and educator * William (Bill) James Reed, artist

Notable alumni

People educated at Aurora College or its predecessor institutions include: * Rex Austin, politician *

Johnny Checketts John Milne Checketts, (20 February 1912 – 21 April 2006) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War, who was credited with the destruction of enemy aircraft, three probably destroyed and 11 damaged. Born in Invercargill, Checketts ...

, World War II air ace * Simon Culhane, rugby union player *

Ruth Dallas Ruth Minnie Mumford (29 September 1919 – 18 March 2008), better known by her pen name Ruth Dallas, was a New Zealand poet and children's author. Biography Dallas was born in Invercargill, the daughter of Frank and Minnie Mumford. She became ...

, writer and poet * Bill Kini, boxer * Jean McKenzie, diplomat * Trevor Moffitt, artist *

Mils Muliaina Junior Malili "Mils" Muliaina (born 31 July 1980) is a former professional rugby union player who most recently played for San Francisco Rush in the US PRO Rugby competition. He played primarily as a fullback, though he has also played as a ...

, rugby union player * Cliff Skeggs, businessman and politician * Jeff Wilson, rugby union player and cricketer

References

External links

* Schools in Invercargill Secondary schools in the Southland Region New Zealand secondary schools of S68 plan construction Educational institutions established in 2005 2005 establishments in New Zealand {{NewZealand-school-stub