Steve Hargreaves has been Headmaster of Wesley College for three years.Wesley College is a Methodist School and is the oldest School in New Zealand. The School opened in 1844 with ten students on seven acres of land on Grafton Road.
In 1911, the School purchased land at the present Paerata site.
In 1975, this was the first School to sign an Integration Agreement wiht the Ministry of Education.
In 1985, girls were admitted to the School.
The roll is now 330 of which 250 are boarders and students come from Kaitaia to Christchurch and overseas. 74% of the roll is Pacific Island, 24% Maori and 2% European.
There is a big focus on increasing academic attainment and looking to provide a career pathway for students from Wesley.
Wesley College has several links with Rotary which include:
Contributing to the cost of sending the School's First XV rugby team to attend the Johah Lomu memorial tournament in Argentina.
Our Club will be donating a 3D Printer to the School.
We provide reading enhancement to boost the literacy skills of students.
We are looking at formin a partnership with Wesley College for the Trees For Survival programme.
This year a student from Tamaki Primary School was given a full Scholarship to attend Wesley College.
Wesley College has an exciting future ahead with a huge housing development taking place. The funds from this development will be used to build a new campus within the next 5 to 6 years. It is expected that the School roll will double with the building of the new School.
There have been many notable past pupils which include:
Sir Richard Taylor - Weat Workshop
Jonah Lomu
Steven Donald
This School excells is sports.
The fees per student are $3,500 to $4,000 per year. Wesley College has investments which help to fund the running costs of the School.