Spotswood College is a co-educational state

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Spotswood,

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

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 was founded in 1960 and celebrated its 50th Jubilee in 2010. It was formerly New Zealand's largest school. It is New Plymouth's only co-educational secondary school, with a current roll of students.

Houses

Spotswood College initially had four houses. In 1969, when the college expanded the education department split the college into two schools, one named East, the other West. In 1980 the college reverted to its original structure and the four house system was re-introduced. The houses were named after the original settlers of

. In 2012, the houses were given dual names with the original names added. The house names are based from the Sugar Loaf Islands off the coast of New Plymouth. 1960–1968 and 2012–present * Mikotahi * Moturoa * Motumahanga * Paritutu 1969–1979 * East * West 1980–2012 * Darnell * Atkinson * Barrett * Richmond

International

Spotswood College has hosted international students from Italy, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Italy, USA, China, Russia, New Caledonia, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. It has specific facilities and staff members to support them during their time in New Zealand. In 2009, 22 students from Spotswood College's kapa haka group ''Te Kura Tuarua O Ngamotu'' were chosen to represent New Zealand at the tenth annual Te Manahua Maori cultural competition in Laie, Hawaii. In 2013, Spotswood College provided students learning Japanese the opportunity to visit their sister school Hatsukaichi Senior High School in Hiroshima, Japan. In exchange, 8 students and 1 teacher from Hatsukaichi Senior High School visited Spotswood College and were hosted by local families. Classes and groups from Spotswood College have also visited

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

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and

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Sister school

* Hatsukaichi Senior High School in Hiroshima, Japan * Colegio Sagrada Familia PJO https://fundacionpjo.es/

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Paritutu tragedy

On 8 August 2012, Spotswood College students Stephen Kahukaka-Gedye and Felipe Melo, both 17, and their Taranaki Outdoor Pursuits and Education Centre (TOPEC) instructor Bryce Jourdain, 42, were swept out to sea while climbing around Paritutu rock as part of a TOPEC camp activity. The body of Felipe Melo was later found and identified. The bodies of Bryce and Stephen were never found. TOPEC pleaded guilty to three charges. A fourth was dropped. TOPEC was charged $250,000 for the incident. TOPEC still runs camps and activities for secondary schools around the Taranaki region, however Spotswood College have never held camps with TOPEC since the incident. Spotswood College now has a stone monument in memory of them outside the entrance of the college.

Principals

* Mr Alex L McPhail (1960–1977) * Mr Evan. E Thomas (1978–1987) * Mr Barry P Finch (1987–2002) * Mr Graeme McFadyen (2003–2009) * Mr. Mark A. Bowden (2010–2018) *Mrs. Nicola Ngarewa (2018–present) In mid 2018, it was announced that Mr. Mark Bowden would be retiring from his position as Principal at the end of term two. After a selection process, the Board of Trustees selected former Patea Area School Principal Nicola Ngarewa to take over the position at the beginning of term four, and become the school's first female principal. Mr. Daryn Shaw became acting principal for the entirety of term three while Mrs Ngarewa transitioned from Patea Area School.

Notable staff and alumni

Staff

* Link Abrams-American born-basketball player, taught maths. * Peter Jefferies — music teacher, musician * Bali Haque

Alumni

* Liz Craig — current Member of Parliament *

Mark Crysell Mark Crysell (born 21 February 1961) is a New Zealand television presenter and journalist. He has worked on different shows with Television New Zealand. Career Television Mark Crysell is a television reporter who has been part of the team for ...

— former

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

Europe correspondent and current

Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...

reporter * Harry Duynhoven — former Mayor of New Plymouth, Member of Parliament for

, and current New Plymouth Councillor * Marianne Muggeridge — painter and screenprinter * Willie Talau —

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player

References

{{New Plymouth District Educational institutions established in 1960 Secondary schools in Taranaki Schools in New Plymouth 1960 establishments in New Zealand