Significant secondary schools in New Zealand, with dates of foundation:

• Auckland Grammar School (1850)
• Christ's College (1850)
• Nelson College (1856)
• Scots College (1916)
• Te Aute College (1854)
• Wanganui Collegiate School (1852)
• Wellington College (1853), formerly Wellington Grammar School. It changed name when it became an affiliated College to the University of New Zealand
• Wellington High School, formerly Wellington Technical College (1886) which split to form the Wellington High School and the Wellington Polytechnical School (no earlier than 1924?)

The original schools of the foundation of Governor Sir George Grey were originally called grammar schools. However in imitation of the English public school system some were named "college"--colleges in name only without a body of Fellows. The only true extant "college" providing secondary education in New Zealand is Christ's College (which used to be affiliated to two universities). Wellington College too, used to have a collegiate structure due to its membership of the University of New Zealand.

The older schools tend to stay together for sporting competitions. One such example is the Quadrangular Rugby Football Tournament, which originally started as an annual game contested between Nelson, Christ's and Wellington Colleges--later the Wanganui Collegiate School was included. Another is the annual Auckland Grammar v. Wellington College rugby game.

Due to the political effects of the Vietnam War most schools have dropped the cadet programme in schools, though some schools (mostly boys') continue this practice. The concept of cadets is another borrowing from the English public schools.

See also

Education in New Zealand

External links

Profiled websites of three dozen (http://www.zeal.com/category/preview.jhtml?cid=10099415)

Yahoo directory of New Zealand Secondary schools (http://dir.yahoo.com/education/k_12/schools/high_schools/by_region/countries/new_zealand/complete_list/)