Rosehill College

Rosehill College (RC) is a co-educational state secondary school located in Rosehill area of the Auckland region. Rosehill College was established on Tuesday, 3 February 1970, and is now the largest secondary school in the area.

Located approximately 30 minutes south of Auckland CBD, on the southern edge of the Auckland metropolitan area, the college admits students residing on the western side of the Southern Auckland Railway Line in Papakura and caters the Rosehill, Pahurehure, and Opaheke area as well as students from surrounding rural areas including Te Hihi, Karaka, Drury, Ponga, Runciman, Ramarama, Ararimu, Kingseat, Waiau Pa, and Clark's Beach. The campus is also situated next to Rosehill Intermediate.

History

When the school opened on Tuesday, 3 February 1970 the population consisted of only 180 students, and 9 teachers. As the Papakura area was overtaken by Auckland's urban sprawl the school's roll increased exponentially.

The school was officially opened by Mr. A Campbell, who was the mayor of Papakura at this time, and previously worked as Principal of nearby Papakura High School.

Grounds

The school has a number of classroom blocks, typically consisting of a series of connected buildings. A Block is surrounded by the hall, offices and staffroom, while X Block backs on to the field, split into soccer and rugby sections. Rosehill also has a library, astroturf and a heated swimming pool.^[3]

Rosehill College, like most New Zealand state secondary schools was built between 1960 and 1970, was built to the Nelson 2H common design plan. The Nelson 2H is distinguished by its two-storey H-shaped classroom blocks, with stairwells at each end of the block and a large ground floor toilet and cloak area on one side.^[4] Rosehill has two of these blocks: C block and S block. B block was also originally built to the Nelson 2H common design plan, however the top level was badly damaged by fire arson circa 1995. The block underwent substantial repair and was transformed into a more modern single level technology and science block.

Staff

Mr. Eric Jerkovich was the foundation Principal of Rosehill College until retiring after 14 years in 1984. Following his retirement, the then Deputy Principal, Mr. Tom Robson, became principal. He stepped down from the position in 1995 and was replaced by Mr. Bali Haque. Mr Haque was principal for seven years, during which time the school roll grew to nearly 2000. At different times both Mr Robson and Mr Haque were presidents of the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand.

In October 2003, Mr. Graeme Macann was appointed the head of Rosehill College. Mr Macann had been president of the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association in 1999-2000, and has chaired the New Zealand Secondary Principals' Council. He was an inaugural member of the New Zealand Teachers Council in 2002.

Principals of Rosehill College:

• Mr. Eric Jerovick; 1970 - 1984
• Mr. Tom Robson; 1985 - 1995
• Mr. Bali Haque; 1995 - 2003
• Mr. Graeme Macann; 2003 - 2015
• Mrs Sue Blakely; 2015 - present

Houses

Rosehill College is split up into six houses.^[5]

• Atawhai (Yellow)
• Kahurangi (Blue)
• Manutaki (Purple)
• Pounamu (Green)
• Rangatahi (Black and White)
• Taikura (Red)

Notable alumni

Rosehill College has had some "celebrities" and famous figures on the school roll such as:

• Dean Bracewell - Company Director ^[6]
• Keisha Castle-Hughes - actress^[7]
• Brandon Field - New Zealand Commonwealth Games athlete
• Baden Kerr - Counties Manukau Steelers and Blues
• Karen Phillips - New Zealand Commonwealth Games athlete
• Kieran Read - Crusaders and All Black. International Rugby Player of the Year 2013
• J. Williams - Singer

Notes