Ashburton College

Infobox NZ school
name = Ashburton College
motto = "Individual Excellence in a Supportive Learning Environment" [cite web|url=http://www.ashburtoncollege.ac.nz/new/|title=Welcome!|publisher=Ashburton College]
established =
principal = S W Lewis
address = Walnut Avenue,
Ashburton,
New Zealand
type = State, Co-educational, Secondary, years 9-13
roll = 1,117
decile = 7
MOE = 351
homepage = [http://www.ashburtoncollege.ac.nz/ www.ashburtoncollege.ac.nz]

Ashburton College is a decile 7 school in Ashburton, New Zealand, catering for years 9-13. Ashburton College had a roll of 1,176 students and 71 teachers as at the September 2004 ERO (Education Review Office) Report.

Critical praise

Deputy principal Scott Haines was awarded the NEiTA Excellence in Teaching and Leadership Award in 2008. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10509897&pnum=0 Top teachers get A-plus for effort] ]

In 2008, The Education Review Office ranked the school the top in the country for the promotion of male's learning. [ [http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=11458 High praise for learning plan] ]

Statistics from the 2008 NCEA results ranked the school fifth in performance out of the 19 decile seven to nine schools. [http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=11214 Schools shine in NCEA] ]

Controversy

In 2001 an anonymous call alerted Police to a bomb on the school campus. The students were consequently evacuated. A search found that there was no bomb and that the call was a hoax. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=202441 Bomb hoax evacuates Canterbury school] ]

In response to the school ranking fifth on the NCEA statistics tables out of similarly ranked schools, vice principal Chris Buckland (while in his capacity as acting principal) publicly denounced the NCEA statistics, saying they should be taken with a "grain of salt" and that due to the differences in numbers at each school they could be misleading citing that at a very small school it only takes a few students to pass to bolster the statistics.

Alumni

*Paul Ackerley, Olympic gold medal winning hockey player
*Radio and television personality Simon Barnett
*Television actress Robyn Malcolm
*Tenor Simon O'Neill

ee also

* Ashburton Astronomy Group Observatory

References