Wellington High School

Wellington High School is a co-educational (since 1905) secondary school in downtown Wellington, New Zealand. In 2005 the roll was approximately 1100 students. It was founded in the 1880s as the Wellington College of Design (later the Wellington Technical Art School) to provide a more appropriate education for the Dominion than the narrow academic training provided by the existing schools. It is the first co-educational secondary in New Zealand. It is one of only two schools in Wellington (along with Onslow College), and one of only a few New Zealand secondary schools that does not have a school uniform.Many of the current buildings date from the 1980s and are in the neo-brutalist style pyramidal roofs.HistoryWellington High School, and the institutions from which the current school evolved, have a significant place in the history of public education in New Zealand. It was founded in 1886 by Arthur Dewhurst Riley as the Wellington College of Design. In 1891 the school became Wellington Technical School. It moved to its present site on Taranaki Street from Mercer Street in 1922. Riley was a pioneer of technical and vocational education in New Zealand and his views influenced the Manual and Technical Instruction Act of 1900.In 1964 the secondary and tertiary education parts separated, the upper part becoming Wellington Polytechnical School. Wellington Poly has now become Massey University's Wellington Campus. Other technical schools have also gone on to become tertiary institutions, including Auckland University of Technology and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. The school retains a large community education programme.