Otumoetai College

Story

Otumoetai College is a state coeducational secondary school located in Tauranga, New Zealand. The school opened in February 1965 with 206 students from years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) to serve the western suburbs of Tauranga. Otumoetai is claimed to stand for “peaceful waters” implied by the peaceful surroundings and estuary within the Otumoetai area.As of, Otumoetai College has a roll of students, making it the largest school in the Bay of Plenty Region.HistoryThe history of the land that Otumoetai College resides on goes back many years to the turn of the 20th century, where the land was farmed by a young Englishman named Mr Tollemache.Otumoetai College opened in February 1965. Like many New Zealand secondary schools of the era, the school was designed and constructed to the Nelson 2H standard 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. The school has three of these blocks – D, F and G blocks. G block (originally D block), was completed ready for the school opening in 1965; F block was completed in two stages in 1967 and 1968; and D block (originally G block) was completed in two stages in 1969 and 1973. In the early 2000s, the school modified the blocks from their original design by converting the toilet and cloak areas into additional classrooms, and moving the stairs outside the buildings and converting the original stairwells into storage.From that day on Otumoetai College has undergone many changes in appearance, including the “opening of the swimming pool complex, which was a joint venture with the Tauranga City Council” in 1968 as well as the long-awaited completion of the library block in September 1968. 1977 was seen as a stressful year for Otumoetai College and especially Harold Webber who was apprehensive about the growing number of students at Otumoetai and the fact that the number of temporary on-site classrooms had risen to a deplorable twelve.