Macleans College
Encyclopedia
Macleans College is a co-educational secondary school
in New Zealand
situated in the Auckland
suburb of Bucklands Beach
. The principal is B J Bentley. The school is named after the Macleans family who after immigrating to New Zealand in 1850 farmed the area of land that the school is built on. The school emblem contains the castle from the Macleans family crest along with six waves which symbolise the seaside location of the school.
The school has a reputation for academic success. Metro magazine placed Macleans College as the number one CIE (Cambridge International Examinations
) Auckland high school in 2010, ahead of Westlake Boys and Auckland Grammar
.
- dividing the school into houses of about 300 students each, with two form classes of 30 or so students for each year level. The eight whanau houses are named after famous New Zealanders:
The original houses were Rutherford, Kupe, Hillary and Te Kanawa, although Hillary was rebuilt and reopened on 29 October 1992 after it burnt down in October 13 1991. More houses have been added as the roll has increased, with the latest addition being Upham
, which was opened in 2003. The school has a roll of over 2,500 students.
Each Whanau House has a one-storey building (with the exception of Batten) containing classrooms and science labs, and often several associated prefabs. Each Whanau House building also has a large central indoor commons area, which, along with being a general purpose socialising space, is used for house assemblies, lunch eating, and co-curricular activities. The school also contains specialised non-house associated Science and Home Economics (Practical), Music, and Engineering buildings, along with the large Barbara Kendall gymnasiums and a smaller auditorium for productions and performance.
Students in the class accelerate past their year level in CIE pathway subjects. Mainstream or core students are also sometimes allowed to accelerate in subjects. Sometimes a large proportion of gifted students in any year group will result in two 'A classes' being formed.
The school is particularly successful in the music department. In the annual KBB Music Festival which is held for secondary schools in the greater Auckland district, the Symphony Orchestra has consistently gained Outstanding awards, making them the number one secondary school orchestra for the past four years. They have also gained a gold award for six years. The Concert Band has been ranked number one for the past three years, having gained gold for four years, while the Chamber Orchestra has been ranked number one for the past two years. The choir has qualified on a national level, gaining a silver for two years at the Big Sing National Finale. The barbershop quartet gained second place nationwide while the girls' chorus placed fourth.
The school also operates a representative badge system. Top tier co-curricular groups, such as the premier teams for many sports codes, debating teams, music groups, the tech crew, stage challenge, the Intercultural Club, and drama annually give out badges to their members or leaders after they have contributed significantly to that co-curricular. Three badges are available for each group, blue, silver, and gold, in ascending rank. As a general rule a student must be a part of the group for 1 or 2 years to earn blue, 2 or 3 years for silver, and 3 or 4 for gold, depending on the co-curricular and year level. The badges are made of cloth, show the name of the group, and sewn onto the top left side of a school jersey just below the school crest.
), and CIE (Cambridge International Examinations
). CIE is offered as an alternative; the principal has stated that he has "major concerns about where the new qualification [NCEA] was going", one of which he said was that NCEA "breaks down subjects into units", which he believes is incoherent and could lead to students "cherry-picking parts of subjects they want to do". However he has also stated that the school has "no intention of disestablishing NCEA"; instead, they "have got to make it work".
High-achieving pupils can sit New Zealand Scholarship exams, which Macleans considers as "the prime qualification in this school”. Many students in Year 13 and Year 12 sit these examinations, which lead to monetary rewards and prestige for successful scholars. A further incentive for students to undertake multiple scholarship examinations is the elite card pass system which the school grants their top scholars.
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
situated in the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
suburb of Bucklands Beach
Bucklands Beach
Bucklands Beach is a suburb 13 kilometres east of Auckland's CBD in New Zealand. The suburb is in the Howick ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland City, and under authority of the Auckland Council.-Maori:...
. The principal is B J Bentley. The school is named after the Macleans family who after immigrating to New Zealand in 1850 farmed the area of land that the school is built on. The school emblem contains the castle from the Macleans family crest along with six waves which symbolise the seaside location of the school.
The school has a reputation for academic success. Metro magazine placed Macleans College as the number one CIE (Cambridge International Examinations
Cambridge International Examinations
University of Cambridge International Examinations is a provider of international qualifications for students between the ages of 14 and 19, offering examinations and qualifications in more than 150 countries. It is an Examination Board under Cambridge Assessment, founded in 1858 as a department...
) Auckland high school in 2010, ahead of Westlake Boys and Auckland Grammar
Auckland Grammar School
Auckland Grammar School is a state secondary school for years 9 to 13 boys in Auckland, New Zealand. It had a roll of 2,483 in 2008, including a number of boarders who live in nearby Tibbs' House, making it one of the largest schools in New Zealand...
.
History
The school was opened in 1980 by then Governor General Sir David Beattie with an initial roll of 199 students. The first principal was Colin Prentice, who later became director of World Vision in New Zealand, followed by his deputy Allan McDonald in 1989. On McDonald's retirement, B.J. Bentley, who holds a Master of Arts, became principal in 2000.Whanau House system
Macleans was the first public school in New Zealand to use the Whanau House systemHouse system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
- dividing the school into houses of about 300 students each, with two form classes of 30 or so students for each year level. The eight whanau houses are named after famous New Zealanders:
| House name | House mascot | House colour | Year opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest... |
Yeti Yeti The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology... |
Green Green Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered... |
1980 |
| Kupe Kupe In the Māori mythology of some tribes, Kupe was involved in the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand.-Contention:There is contention concerning the status of Kupe. The contention turns on the authenticity of later versions of the legends, the so-called 'orthodox' versions closely associated with S.... |
Kiwi North Island Brown Kiwi The North Island Brown Kiwi, Apteryx mantelli, Apteryx australis or Apteryx bulleri before 2000 , is a species of kiwi that is widespread in the northern two-thirds of the North Island of New Zealand and, with about 35000 remaining, is the most common kiwi.-Taxonomy:Until 2000, the Brown Kiwi was... |
Yellow Yellow Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green... |
1981 |
| Rutherford Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics... |
Elephant Elephant Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct... |
Red Red Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye... |
1982 |
| Mansfield Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and... |
'Dog' from Footrot Flats Footrot Flats Footrot Flats was a comic strip written by New Zealand cartoonist Murray Ball. It ran from 1975 until 1994 in newspapers around the world, though the unpublished strips continued to be released in book form until 2000... |
Purple Purple Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade.... |
1984 |
| Te Kanawa Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array... |
Taniwha Taniwha In Māori mythology, taniwha are beings that live in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea, especially in places with dangerous currents or deceptive breakers... |
Blue Blue Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal... |
1987 |
| Batten Jean Batten Jean Gardner Batten CBE OSC was a New Zealand aviatrix. Born in Rotorua, she became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930s, internationally, by taking a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world.... |
Buzzy Bee Buzzy Bee The Buzzy Bee is a popular toy in New Zealand. It resembles a bee with rotating wings that move and make a clicking noise while the toy is pulled along the ground. Possibly based on an earlier American concept, it was designed and first produced in New Zealand in 1948, by Maurice Scheslinger . it... |
White White White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be... |
1998 |
| Snell Peter Snell Sir Peter George Snell, KNZM, MBE is a former New Zealand athlete, now resident in Texas, United States. He had one of the shortest careers of world famous international sportsmen, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand’s "Sports Champion of the Century"... |
Black Panther Black panther A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is... |
Black Black Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light... |
2001 |
| Upham Charles Upham Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham VC and Bar was a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross twice during the Second World War: in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942... |
Lion Lion The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger... |
Light blue | 2003 |
The original houses were Rutherford, Kupe, Hillary and Te Kanawa, although Hillary was rebuilt and reopened on 29 October 1992 after it burnt down in October 13 1991. More houses have been added as the roll has increased, with the latest addition being Upham
Charles Upham
Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham VC and Bar was a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross twice during the Second World War: in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942...
, which was opened in 2003. The school has a roll of over 2,500 students.
Setting and buildings
Macleans College is located in Macleans Park, the largest passive reserve in the Howick/Pakuranga district. Due to its sloping terrain, the school has wide views of the adjacent Eastern Beach.Each Whanau House has a one-storey building (with the exception of Batten) containing classrooms and science labs, and often several associated prefabs. Each Whanau House building also has a large central indoor commons area, which, along with being a general purpose socialising space, is used for house assemblies, lunch eating, and co-curricular activities. The school also contains specialised non-house associated Science and Home Economics (Practical), Music, and Engineering buildings, along with the large Barbara Kendall gymnasiums and a smaller auditorium for productions and performance.
International students
The college takes in fee paying foreign students, mainly of Asian ethnicity. As they pay more than NZ$14,000 each per year, they constitute a significant part of the school's income.Special abilities programme
Macleans offers the top intellectually performing students in each year level to apply for entry into their 'A class', their gifted and talented education system.Students in the class accelerate past their year level in CIE pathway subjects. Mainstream or core students are also sometimes allowed to accelerate in subjects. Sometimes a large proportion of gifted students in any year group will result in two 'A classes' being formed.
Co-curricular activities
The school's unofficial co-curricular guide for students, although not extensive and slightly outdated, includes 28 sporting codes, 13 academic activities, 6 drama activities, 14 musical activities, 18 cultural activities and 24 clubs as part of the larger 'Intercultural Club'. Each student is required to participate in at least one long term co-curricular activity.The school is particularly successful in the music department. In the annual KBB Music Festival which is held for secondary schools in the greater Auckland district, the Symphony Orchestra has consistently gained Outstanding awards, making them the number one secondary school orchestra for the past four years. They have also gained a gold award for six years. The Concert Band has been ranked number one for the past three years, having gained gold for four years, while the Chamber Orchestra has been ranked number one for the past two years. The choir has qualified on a national level, gaining a silver for two years at the Big Sing National Finale. The barbershop quartet gained second place nationwide while the girls' chorus placed fourth.
The school also operates a representative badge system. Top tier co-curricular groups, such as the premier teams for many sports codes, debating teams, music groups, the tech crew, stage challenge, the Intercultural Club, and drama annually give out badges to their members or leaders after they have contributed significantly to that co-curricular. Three badges are available for each group, blue, silver, and gold, in ascending rank. As a general rule a student must be a part of the group for 1 or 2 years to earn blue, 2 or 3 years for silver, and 3 or 4 for gold, depending on the co-curricular and year level. The badges are made of cloth, show the name of the group, and sewn onto the top left side of a school jersey just below the school crest.
Qualifications
For senior students, two qualification pathways are offered: NCEA (National Certificate of Educational AchievementNational Certificate of Educational Achievement
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement is, since 2004, the official secondary school qualification in New Zealand.It has three levels, corresponding to the levels within the National Qualifications Framework, and these are generally studied in each of the three final years of...
), and CIE (Cambridge International Examinations
Cambridge International Examinations
University of Cambridge International Examinations is a provider of international qualifications for students between the ages of 14 and 19, offering examinations and qualifications in more than 150 countries. It is an Examination Board under Cambridge Assessment, founded in 1858 as a department...
). CIE is offered as an alternative; the principal has stated that he has "major concerns about where the new qualification [NCEA] was going", one of which he said was that NCEA "breaks down subjects into units", which he believes is incoherent and could lead to students "cherry-picking parts of subjects they want to do". However he has also stated that the school has "no intention of disestablishing NCEA"; instead, they "have got to make it work".
High-achieving pupils can sit New Zealand Scholarship exams, which Macleans considers as "the prime qualification in this school”. Many students in Year 13 and Year 12 sit these examinations, which lead to monetary rewards and prestige for successful scholars. A further incentive for students to undertake multiple scholarship examinations is the elite card pass system which the school grants their top scholars.
Notable alumni
- Hagen Bower - table tennis, 1992 Olympics
- Scott CampbellScott Campbell (baseball)Scott Campbell is a current Minor League Baseball batter for the Las Vegas 51s. In , he became the first New Zealander to be drafted by a Major League Baseball club, when selected 300th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays.He played college baseball at Gonzaga University...
- baseball, Minor league, Arizona Diamondbacks - Andrew de BoorderAndrew de BoorderAndrew Philip de Boorder is a cricketer. He is a member of the New Zealand Under 19 and Auckland Aces side.-External Links:...
- cricketer, Auckland - Derek de BoorderDerek de BoorderDerek Charles de Boorder in Hastings is a New Zealand cricketer. He played in the 2004 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh and he was awarded a player's contract for Auckland for the 2006-07 and for Otago for the 2007-08. He is the older brother of Andrew de Boorder. He plays his club cricket for...
- cricketer, Auckland - Jarek GoebelJarek GoebelJarek Goebel is a New Zealand Rugby league footballer who currently plays with Shellharbour Sharks in the Bundaberg Red Cup. He was previously a Rugby Union player who played provincial rugby for Auckland in the Air New Zealand Cup.-Auckland:...
- rugby, Auckland Blues - Bruce Hunter (triathlete) - duathlon, three World Championships
- Barbara KendallBarbara KendallBarbara Kendall, MBE is a boardsailor from New Zealand. Kendall was raised at Bucklands Beach and attended Macleans College...
- windsurfing, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics; the Barbara Kendall school gymnasium is named after her - Ingrid Leary - former TV presenter and current Director of the British Council in New Zealand
- Aaron MacIntosh - windsurfing, 1996 and 2000 Olympics
- Kyle MillsKyle MillsKyle David Mills is a New Zealand cricketer. Kyle is right-arm pace bowler who can also score quick runs in the later stages of one day innings; in October 2009 he reached his peak position of 1st on the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Bowling Rankings.Having been injured in Australia in February 2007,...
- cricketer, New Zealand team - Natalie Taylor - women's basketball, 2008 Olympics
- Rhona RobertsonRhona RobertsonRhona Robertson is a former female badminton player from New Zealand. She is a veteran of two Olympic Games and four Commonwealth Games....
- badminton, 1992 and 1996 Olympics - Chuck Slogrove - Young Enterprise world champion
- Kirsten HellierKirsten HellierKirsten Louise Hellier is a former javelin thrower, who represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth and the Olympic Games. She set her personal best in 1994 with the old javelin type...
- javelin, 1992 Olympics, 1990 and 1994 Commonwealth Games - Brooke WalkerBrooke WalkerBrooke Graeme Keith Walker is a former New Zealand cricketer who played in five Tests and 11 One Day International, he retired from all cricket in 2005. He was born in Auckland....
- cricketer - Mark WeldonMark Weldon (New Zealand)Mark Rhys Weldon has achieved prominence as a manager and a sportsman.- Career :Weldon has served as the CEO of NZX Limited . NZX runs the national stock exchange located in Wellington, New Zealand...
- swimmer, 1992 Olympics, CEO of the New Zealand ExchangeNew Zealand ExchangeNZX Limited is a stock exchange located in Wellington, New Zealand. Since July 2005 it has been located in NZX Centre, the renovated Odlins building on the Wellington waterfront...
(NZX)