Christchurch Girls' High School Explained

Christchurch Girls' High School
Native Name:Maori: Te Kura o Hine Waiora
Motto:Sapientia et Veritas "Wisdom and Truth"
Type:State Secondary (Year 9–13) with boarding facilities.
Established:1877; years ago
Address:10 Matai Street
Zipcode:8011
Country:New Zealand
Coordinates:-43.5249°N 172.6109°W
Chairperson:Lesley Vehekite
Principal:Christine O'Neill (from 2019)
Gender:Female
Roll:
Decile:9Q[1]
Moe:328

Christchurch Girls' High School (Maori: Te Kura o Hine Waiora) in Christchurch, New Zealand, was established in 1877 and is the second oldest girls-only secondary school in the country, after Otago Girls' High School.[2]

History

Christchurch Girls' High School was established in 1877, four years before Christchurch Boys' High School. The first headmistress was Mrs. Georgiana Ingle (a daughter of Richard Deodatus Poulett-Harris and half-sister of Lily Poulett-Harris). The second principal Helen Connon (later Helen Macmillan Brown) is better known as she was the first woman in any British university to gain an Honours degree.

The school's original building on Cranmer Square, which was renamed the Cranmer Centre, features prominently in the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures based on the 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case involving two students.

The school featured in national and international news in 1972 when two students led a "walkout"[3] [4] from school assembly to protest against the inclusion of religion in school morning assemblies. At the time, schools in New Zealand were supposed to be secular but this was largely ignored and students were usually told to bring a note from their parents if they wanted to opt out of the religious component of school assemblies.

In June 2020, students complained that posters they had put up promoting the Black Lives Matter movement were removed without adequate explanation. Students reported that some staff had said the posters could damage the walls, but that other posters were allowed to remain, while the staff member who took the posters down reportedly said it was because "all lives matter". The incident followed similar complaints at two other New Zealand schools, where students had alleged racist motivations for removing posters. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, commenting on the issues across the three schools, said that the matters were for schools to deal with, but she did not discourage the students' actions, while Massey University sociologist Paul Spoonley said it was censorship and appeared to be "institutional racism – racism that has come from the school itself".[5]

Present day

Christchurch Girls' High School, known to many as Girls' High or CGHS, provides boarding facilities for 95 students from years 9 to 13 at Acland House, located 20–30 minutes walk away from school.

The school stands by the Avon River, on a site it has occupied since 1986. Previously, the area was occupied by a mill that was first built in 1861 by William Derisley Wood, which became known as the Riccarton Mill.[6]

The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake had a large impact on the school: it caused extensive damage to the current site;[7] the old Cranmer Centre site was damaged so badly that it was later demolished – and the school's principal at the time, Prue Taylor, lost her husband Brian in the CTV Building collapse.[8]

The current principal is Christine O'Neill, who started the role in July 2019. Pauline Duthie, previous principal of the school, held the role from 2014 to March 2019 and left to be a principal at Columba College in Dunedin.[9]

Notable alumnae

Notable staff

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools . Ministry of Education . 12 February 2015.
  2. Web site: Lovell-Smith. Melanie. 8 December 2001. Cranmer Centre (Former Christchurch Girls High). dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120615054948/http://www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterResults.aspx?RID=1849&m=advanced. 15 June 2012. 20 May 2011. New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga.
  3. Web site: ‘Getting Rid of Troublemakers’: The Right to Education and School Safety – Individual Student vs School Community . PDF . Sally Varnham . Austlii.edu.au . 4 February 2016.
  4. http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/10534/2008008201.pdf?sequence=1
  5. Web site: 10 June 2020. Third school's students complain over Black Lives Matter poster removal. 10 June 2020. RNZ. en-nz.
  6. Web site: The Riccarton Mill before the business was transferred to Addington. Christchurch City Libraries. 20 May 2011.
  7. http://www.cghs.school.nz/images/CGHS_-_Structural_Report_2011-06-241.pdf Structural Inspection Report – 24 June 2011
  8. News: CTV building's flaws went unnoticed . 10 February 2012 . . David . Williams . Rachel . Young . 26 October 2013.
  9. News: New principal for Columba College. 29 November 2018. David. Loughrey. Otago Daily Times.
  10. Whiteford . Peter . Ursula Bethell, 1874–1945 . Kōtare: New Zealand Notes & Queries . June 2008 . 7 . 3 . 90 . 10.26686/knznq.v7i3.707 . 14 December 2020. free .
  11. Web site: Fairbairn, Eileen. www.teara.govt.nz. 10 November 2015. en. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Taonga.
  12. Web site: I wanted to know what they were saying. 11 April 2015. E-Tangata – A Māori and Pasifika Sunday magazine. 15 May 2016.
  13. Web site: Gibson, Helena Fannie and Gibson, Mary Victoria. www.teara.govt.nz. 13 November 2015. en. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Taonga.
  14. Web site: Grossmann, Edith Searle. www.teara.govt.nz. 6 February 2016. en. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Taonga.
  15. Web site: 2 December 2021 . Thirteen new professors promoted at UC . 27 May 2023 . University of Canterbury.
  16. Web site: Henderson, Stella May. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 9 June 2016.
  17. Web site: Some Pioneer Women Graduates in Botany from Canterbury University College . 8 February 2016 . Centre for Studies on New Zealand Science History . Thomson . A.D. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160214093934/http://bts.nzpcn.org.nz/bts_pdf/Cant_2000_34__54-63.pdf . 14 February 2016 .
  18. Web site: Lorimer, Margaret. www.teara.govt.nz. 12 February 2016. en. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Taonga.
  19. Web site: Foster, Emily Sophia. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  20. Web site: Rodgers . Jan . 1996 . Pengelly, Edna . 28 October 2023 . Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
  21. Web site: Pauline Parker . . 16 August 2013 . 20 December 2012.
  22. Web site: Robinson, Christabel Elizabeth. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  23. Web site: Simpson, Myrtle May. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  24. News: 9 October 2004. Valued NZ researcher. The Press.
  25. News: 'Hum of lesbianism' at girls' school. Steward. Ian. 9 November 2009. Stuff.co.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  26. News: Obituary . 21 December 2019 . . LXIV . 19264 . 20 March 1928 . 2.
  27. Web site: Kate Edger NZHistory, New Zealand history online. www.nzhistory.net.nz. 12 February 2016.
  28. Web site: Henderson, Christina Kirk. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 10 June 2016.
  29. Web site: Hurle, Leila Agnes Sophie. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  30. Web site: Young, Stephanie Grace. Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. www.teara.govt.nz. en. 15 May 2016.
  31. Web site: Taonga. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Dohrmann, Elsie. 20 January 2021. teara.govt.nz. en.
  32. Web site: Lamb, Dawn Ruth (Dame), 1940– . 2023-09-22 . natlib.govt.nz.

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