Southwell School

Southwell School
Location
200 Peachgrove Road, Hamilton, New Zealand
Coordinates	37.7741°S 175.2981°E / -37.7741; 175.2981
Information
Type	Private Co-ed Full Primary (Year 1-8) with Boarding Facilities
Motto	Per Aspera Ad Astrum (Through Adversity to the Star)
Established	1911
Ministry of Education Institution no.	4141
Principal	Royce Helm
School roll	652
Socio-economic decile	10
Website	www.southwell.school.nz

Southwell School is an independent co-educational Anglican preparatory school located in Hamilton, New Zealand. Southwell School caters for the academic, cultural, sporting and spiritual needs of 4 to 13 year olds. Southwell prides itself on its family atmosphere that encompasses students, both past and present, parents and teachers. Southwell School is considered to be a feeder school for St Paul's Collegiate School, although significant numbers of its students go on to attend other schools, most commonly Hamilton Boys' High School and King's College.

Academic

Southwell School offers a broad and wide-ranging curriculum, which is based on, yet not limited to, the New Zealand Ministry of Education Framework.

Subjects are as follows : (* indicates an optional subject.)

• English
• Mathematics
• Physical Education
• Art
• Pottery
• ICT (Computer) Studies
• Technology (Woodwork/metalwork/electronics)
• French*
• English Literacy*
• Music
• Drama
• Te Reo Maori*
• Health
• Library
• Christian Education
• Food Technology
• Mandarin

All classes are based from their own classroom and class sizes are limited to 25 students to 1 teacher. Year 7 and 8 classes are streamed into two streams, 'A' and 'B'.

There are school-wide (year 3-8) examinations that are conducted at the end of each year in most subject areas. Although this is not the case in many primary/intermediate schools, it is well recognized within the school community that this prepares the student for high school examinations, both high school entry and NCEA.

Gifted and Talented Education Programme (GATE)

The Gifted and Talented Education Programme (GATE) is a programme designed to extend students further than average class work. These programmes are set up at the beginning of each year and tailored to the needs of a group of students that excel in certain areas of the curriculum.

These areas include:

• Audio Visual/ICT
• Mathematics
• English Literacy (offered to the top classes in year 7 and 8)
• Art/Pottery
• Music

The GATE programme generally involves spending 40 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes a week, with a specialist teacher guiding and challenging each student to their full potential.

Houses

Southwell School currently has 6 houses which are named after famous cathedrals in England.

• Lincoln - Green
• Salisbury - Gold/Yellow
• Winchester - Maroon
• Durham - Red
• Canterbury - Blue
• York - Black

Each house meets once a week to collect points for the school 'Citizenship Point' Competition, as well as to discuss the frequent house competitions. These competitions are in swimming, cross country, athletics, mathematics, English and 'house-sport', which is a house competition in various summer and winter sports. These sports include:

• Tennis
• Touch Rugby
• Chess
• Netball
• Rugby
• Hockey
• Soccer
• Softball
• Cricket

House rivalry at Southwell is great, primarily on house sport days, but also in the 'Citizenship Point' and House Point Competitions.

Opera/Musical

Southwell School is famous for the top quality operas they perform annually. These are just some of the performances that students have performed since the school was founded:

• H.M.S Pinafore
• The Mikado
• The Yeomen of the Guard
• The Gondoliers
• Princess Ida
• The Pirates of Penzance
• The Sorcerer
• The Mountebanks
• Ruddigore
• Oh, Kay!
• Iolanthe
• Noye's Fludde
• All the King's Men
• Oliver!
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• The Wizard of Oz
• Peter Pan
• Narnia
• Titanic:A New Musical
• By Jeeves
• The Phantom of the Opera (non Andrew Lloyd Webber version)
• Guys and Dolls
• Bye Bye Birdie
• Oliver Twist

Notable alumni

• Daniel Gillies - actor
• Rt.Hon Sir Doug Graham - former Cabinet Minister
• Lance Hohaia - New Zealand and Warriors rugby league player
• Tuheitia Paki - current Maori King
• Rt.Hon Simon Upton - former Cabinet Minister and Rhodes Scholar
• Michael Oehley - Children's author

Notable former staff

• Maurice Marshall, Headmaster, Olympic athlete and Commonwealth Games medallist