SCHOOL JUBILEE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22987, 15 March 1938, Page 16

SCHOOL JUBILEE

NORTHCOTE'S HISTORY

BEGUN WITH SIX PUPILS CELEBRATIONS THIS MONTH Started 65 years ago with six pupils, ns a half-time, school, anrl raised to the status of a full-time school three years later, the Northcote District High School will celebrate this month the diamond jubilee of tho opening of the building on the present site, at the corner of Onewa and ' Kauri Glen Roads. In January, 1873, when, the only school in the district apparently was Menar.v's private school, at Takapuna, 13 residents of Stokes' Point petitioned for a school there. Taking over Mcnary's School, which became the Lake School, the Education Board agreed to , establish another at Stokes' Point, tho two to be run as half-time schools. The First Oommlttee Householders held their first meeting on May 8, 1873, the following committee being elected: —Messrs. Michael Shea, chairman, Patrick Heath, Benjamin Menary, James Wallace and James S. Sheriff, secretary. In July Mr. Thomas Seaman was appointed teacher for the two schools. The Stokes' Point school was started in the unoccupied Anglican parsonage in October the same year. The roll of six increased to 11 by the end of the year, and by the end of 187-1 to 26. Two years later, when the roll was 28, the school was converted to a full-time one, Mr. Seaman remaining in charge. In 1877 the Stokes' Point school district was established, and in February, 1877, the following committee was elected:—Major Benton, chairman, Messrs. Alex Wilson, John G. Denby, William Thompson, and J. Bradney. The building used for classrooms becoming inadequate, Mr. W. Aitken, in June, 1878, gave an acre of land for a building at the corner of; what were then known as the North and Crop Roads, a further acre being purchased by thci Education Board. The schoolroom. 40ft. by 20ft., with two porches, was finished, by the emL of the year, and a teacher's house w'aslbuilt tho year after. Change in Name The name of the school was changed from Stokes' Point to Northcote in ISSO, while a now classiroom and other additions were made iu 1885. Further additions were made in 1898, and in ]9O/5, when the roll was 3.30, an infant building of throe rooms was added. ]!v 1911, when more rooms were added, the roll was 532, and two years later, to relieve congestion, a side-school was o|K>ncd at the Foresters' Hall, Birkenhead, for infant pupils. A three-roomed brick building was added in October. 1918, but it was used for two months as an emergency hospital during the influenza epidemic. The infant building at Northcote was converted into n manual training centre when tho Birkenhead school was opened in 1919. extensions being made in 1931. The Junior High School The new Birkenhead and the new Northcote school, ivhich was built nt tho corner of Lake and Onewa Roads, were run as side-schools to the main Northcote school until 1925, when the Birkenhead school was separated. The junior high school, the second established in the Dominion, was opened in 1923, pupils being drawn from neighbouring primary schools. The school was raised to the status of a district high school in 1931, a temporary building being erected for the secondary department. This was destroyed by fire in December, 1936, and pending the completion of a new block the secondary pupils are accommodated in the drill hall at Kauri Glen. The celebration of the jubilee will take place from March 25 to March 27.