History of Burnside High School

Main Burnside High School article: Burnside High School

1960-1970

Burnside High School was started in 1959 during a period of rapid expansion between the 1950s and 1960s. The school was situated on a site of 24 acres which was owned by the Government Education Department. The first block, an H-type 'Nelson Plan' building, was built on the grounds.

Early into the school's existence, the great significance of a grove of cabbage trees situated on the land were pointed out by the President of the Canterbury Pilgrims and Early Settlers' Association. These trees were later encircled by a wall seat, and pavement put down surrounding it. Now, they are symbolised in the School insignia.

On February 2, 1960 for the first time, a total of over 200 students, along with their new teachers, gathered at the school alongside the symbolic trees for a simple ceremony to open the school. However, the school was not officially opened by the Minister of Education till the third term of that year. During that time, an assembly hall was also built.

In 1961, thanks to a large amount of voluntary work, a school pool was able to be filled and opened in December of that year. By 1964, a filtration plant had also been added, and the school was able to hold its swimming sports in its own pool.

By this time, the need for a gymnasium arose. As with the pool, various fund-raising activities were planned and undertaken. This fundraising by the PTA, along with a subsidy from the government, allowed the School to open a gymnasium next to the pool, along with a considerable amount of equipment. This gym is now known as the Cross gym, in celebration of the first principal of Burnside High School.

In 1963, prefects were appointed for the first time. The first head prefects were the first boy and girl through the gates on the first day in 1960 - Mary Maddren (arrived 4 am) and Brian Hitchon (arrived 5.30 am)

By 1968, the school roll was 1150, and the school and local area was still growing. In 1969, Jim Cross, first principal of Burnside High School, was succeeded by Allan Hunter, principal of Burnside High School from 1969-1980

2000-Now

During Dr Graham Stoop's time as principal of Burnside High School, laptops were introduced for use by Staff on a regular basis, as well as the formation of the Christchurch College of Computing, a venture run by the Burnside Board of Trustees to provide a Computer focussed curriculum for Year 13 Students interested in careers in computer Multimedia, Programming and other ICT related subjects.

In 2004, and through 2005, construction of a new block, J Block, and the new Administration and Library complex were undertaken. The two buildings together made up a multi-million dollar addition to the already extensive facilities of the school. To accommodate the construction of the new Administration/Library building, the current Hall had to be relocated just behind the Hunter Gym, where it was converted to a 3rd Gymnasium.

Just behind this 3rd Gymnasium, a set of pre-used classrooms were relocated into the area, nearby the Bike-Lockup area. These classrooms were back to back with H Block, and right next to the 3rd Gym, and the area was designated as being K Block.

A problem that arose in the design of J Block was that of having to include an elevator in the design, a costly venture, yet legally required. The problem was overcome by creating an Airbridge between J Block and the nearby I Block, which allowed J Block to utilize the already existing I Block elevator, which met the legal requirements.

By the near-end of 2005 the buildings were completed and, in 2006, the Library and Administration building was officially opened by the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, although by that time, the facilities were already in use. The old library was turned into the Learning Support centre, and redesigned to be split up into various classrooms, one of which was assigned as the new MSB Room.

Unfortunately, during 2006, the Christchurch College of Computing had to shut down, due to lack of Industry Support and justifiable financial expense in relation to the number of students. The courses offered at the College of Computing were instead incorporated into Burnside's own curriculum, thus giving an even broader course range for Year 13, and Year 12, students to choose from.

During the end of 2006/beginning of 2007 the community fund in charge of maintaining and providing the services of the 'Aurora Centre for Performing Arts', a 750 seat auditorium which is situated on the Burnside High School grounds, liquidated, and the building officially become part of the school's facilities.

In 2007 the school implemented a Armed Intruder Lockdown Scheme to ensure the safety of students in the unlikely, but altogether possible, happenstance of a school shooter. Burnside High is one of the first schools to adopt such a procedure, and involves combined teacher and student cooperation to ensure teachers lock their classrooms from the inside and students position themselves in non-vulnerable positions within the classroom. Originally the only considered prompting that an armed intruder had entered the school was prolonged short ringing of the school bells, which were tied into the fire alarm and class start/finish bells. In 2008, before the start of the school year, this was upgraded to an entire automated school address system that is designed to inform all classes that there is an armed intruder and the appropriate measures to take, and also allowing the principal, vice-principal or assistant principal to address the entire school if necessary. [The (Weekend) Press, 29th March 2008]

Currently, in 2008, a production of the Musical Grease is in the rehearsal stage in lead-up for a late July performance. The production is set to take place in the Aurora Centre facilities, with a cast and chorus exceeding 150 members.

A 50-year jubilee is also planned for 2010, between Thursday 1 April to Sunday 4th. [ [Burnside High School Jubilee http://jubilee.burnside.school.nz]

Principals

1960-1969 Jim Cross

1969-1980 Allan Hunter

1981-1997 John Godfrey

1998-2004 Dr Graham Stoop

2004-Now Ron Noordijk

Dux

1997 Christina Sin

1998 Daniel R Mattingley

1999 Hayden P Melton

2000 Ik-Hyun An

2001 Alice McCubbin-Howell

2002 Mike Liu

2003 Eton Lin

2004 Ralph McCubbin-Howell

2005 Heather Macbeth

2006 Joy Wu

2007 Yong Jeong Kim

Head Prefects

This section lists the past and present Head Boys and Girls for Burnside High School.

The Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl may also be listed for some years

1963 Brian Hitchon, Mary Maddren

1964 Brian Hitchon, Mary Maddren

1965 James Bradley, Suzanne Hay

1966 Ross Stevenson, Anne Hamilton

1967 Kelvyn Sara, Linda Robert

1968 William Luff, Robert Jones, Rosemary Lyon, Sandra King

1969 Neil Wilson, Neroli Jones

1970 Michael Taylor, Beth Pond

1971 Trevor Lineham, Rhonda Brownlees, Diane Munro

1972 Mark Sutherland, Susan Harvard

1973 Gary Fuller, Jennifer McLean

1974 Gary Fuller, Murray Hawkes, Elizabeth Fisher

1975 Ruth Hepburn, Geoffrey Thompson

1976 Lynda Kitchingham, Ricky Gaitt

1977 Ricky Gaitt, Barbara Denholm, Jocelyn Ivory

1978 Andrew Stammer, Marinda Matthew

1979 Peter Greenlees, Michelle Crosbie

1980 Christopher Clarke, Sandra Coventry

1981 Jeremy Godfrey, Nicola Bilbrough

1982 Grant Mangin, Rachel Taylor

1983 Jason Hollingworth, Sarah Perkins

1985 Philip Bilbrough, Joanne Craig

1986 Graham O'Brien, Catherine Hickford

1987 Simon Telfer,

1989 Simon Telfer, Andrew Jefferies, Andrew Cochrane, Paula Townsend

1994 Rachael Lockwood, Alastair Ross

1996 Simon Beardsley

1997 Jared Welham, Lisa Hattrill

1999 Nick Douglas, Stephanie Thorpe

2002 Ciaran Moore, Lisa Brown (Head Prefects); Nathan Russ, Peggy Chen (Deputy Head Prefects)

2003 Julie Nisbet, Jan Noering

2004 Matthew Pattemore, Sergeant Philip Sugden, Katie Lock, Anita Smith

2005 Vivian Wong and Nigel Hughes (Head Prefects) Ben Bowles and Katie Anderson (Deputys)

2006 Anton McDonald and Katie O'Byrne (Head Prefects) Kelly Pentecost and Andrew Fu (Deputys)

2007 Rueben Todd, Melissa Hay, Lucy Hames, Trevor Kitto

2008 Victor Kang, Saraid Cameron, Cami Warnaar, Chris Fernando

chool Roll

1960 233

1964 999

1968 1150

1969 1181

1970 1273

1972 1553

1975 About 2000

1977 2130

1984 1956

2006 2572

2007 2605

ources

Burnside 1985 Jubilee Book: "Burnside High School - The First 25 Years"

Burnside High School Year Book 2002/2004/2005/2006/2007

Burnside High School Newsletters. An archive may be found [http://www.burnside.school.nz/newsletter/news.html here]

References