Thorndon School

Summary

Thorndon Primary is a medium sized, inner city school with a long history, having been first established in 1852.

Thorndon School draws more than 50% of its pupils from the Greater Wellington area and beyond, rather than from the local area and this is because of a number of special features.

The school population is varied with about 10% Maori and 20% from ethnic and cultural groups other than Pakeha or Maori.

In spite of its size the school enjoys good facilities, with two grassed playing fields and a sealed netball/basketball court. We also have access to the much larger fields at Wellington Girls' College for organised sports activities. The college allows us some use of their netball court and gives us, on occasion, limited access to their gym. During the summer the children swim at Thorndon Pool.

The school is well resourced, having a separate library, music room, a glasshouse for horticulture projects and comprehensive equipment for Science and Technology, Sport and PE, Music and Art. These resources are constantly being renewed and upgraded. In 1997 the school networked its computers and all rooms are now linked with each other as well as with the library and the office. We have a high-speed fibre optic link which gives all rooms fast access to the internet.

One of the major resources for the school is the city itself, and we are within walking distance of such places as Parliament, the City Library, the waterfront, theatres, the Michael Fowler Centre, the National Library and, for older children, Te Papa. Many other places of interest can be reached with a short ride by public transport. Groups of children regularly view exhibitions at the City Gallery and at Te Papa.