Middleton Grange School

43°32′13″S 172°34′34″E / 43.5369°S 172.5760°E / -43.5369; 172.5760InformationTypeState Integrated Composite(Years 1-13)MottoIn thy light shall we see lightEstablished1964Ministry of Education Institution no.335PrincipalMike VannoortSchool roll1,437^[1] (February 2024)Socio-economic decile9Q^[2]Websitemiddleton.school.nz

Middleton Grange School (abbreviated MGS) in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a state-integrated Christian co-educational Year 1 to 13 school. It's currently New Zealand's largest evangelical Christian school.

History

Established in 1964 by the Christian Schools Trust, as an independent Christian school and became integrated into the state system in 1996.

Middleton Grange School belongs to the Christchurch Christian Schools Network (CSN) and the New Zealand Association for Christian Schools (NZACS).

The school premises used to house the Christchurch headquarters of the Maxim Institute, a conservative Christian thinktank. Bruce Logan was once Middleton Grange's former curriculum director.

In 2010, the school was ordered to apologise and compensate a former employee for firing him because of his homosexuality.^[3]

In 2018, the school held a mufti day for a gold coin donation called 'dress as refugees' to support World Vision. The school asked students to dress as refuges in old ragged cloths. The former principal Richard Vanderpyl said that the mufti say was a good way to develop understanding and compassion is to experience a little bit of what it feels like to be poor. The school received two complaints from parents due to the mufti day.^[4]

Structure

Middleton Grange School's academic structure consists of four departments, Primary School, Middle School, Senior College and International College.

Primary School consists of students from years 1–6, Middle School consists of students from years 7–10 and Senior College consists of students from years 11–13.

Primary School, Middle School and Senior College all have separate heads. The Head of Primary School is Rod Thompson, the Head of Middle School is Mike Barlow, and the Head of Senior College is Ruth Velluppillai.^[5]

Years 7–13 all have Deans or Learning Team Leaders for each year. The current principal is Mike Vannoort.

Academics

As a state-integrated school, Middleton Grange follows the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). In Years 11 to 13, students complete the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), the main secondary school qualification in New Zealand

Attendance

Primary School

Each year group in the primary school approximately 48 pupils

Attendance of 1 July 2019^[6]

Year Group	Attendance
1	46
2	39
3	48
4	55
5	46
6	55

Middle School (Year 7–10)

Each year group has on average 124 pupils

Attendance of 1 July 2019^[6]

Year Group	Attendance
7	110
8	108
9	127
10	133

Senior College (Year 11–13)

Each year group has 197 pupils on average

Attendance of 1 July 2019^[6]

Year Group	Attendance
11	208
12	192
13	179

In total, the school has 1346 pupils

Houses

Pupils and teachers are divided into specific houses which then compete in (mostly) sporting and cultural activities. There are four of these, named after early British explorers of Antarctica, as Robert Falcon Scott stayed at Middleton Grange's original gentry house before embarking on his ill-fated expedition.

Middleton Grange House Names & their Colours

	Scott	Named after Robert Falcon Scott CVO (6 June 1868 – 29 March 1912), who was a British Royal Naval officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13.
	Wilson	Named after Dr Edward Adrian Wilson ("Uncle Bill") (23 July 1872 – 29 March 1912). He was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.
	Shackleton	Named after Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE, (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922), an Anglo-Irish explorer who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
	Bowen	Named after Sir Charles Bowen (1830 – 12 December 1917). He was a prominent mountaineer and explorer of the Andes, and a Christchurch City Council member.

Notable alumni

• Graham Capill – Former leader, Christian Heritage, eldest son of Don Capill, First Middleton Grange Vice-Principal. Later convicted of sexual abuse.^[7]
• Jeremy Kench – Professional basketball player
• Marisa van der Meer – New Zealand footballer
• Josiah Tualamali’i – Health and social justice advocate
• Olivia Podmore – Professional racing cyclist
• Richie Edwards – Professional basketball player
• William Stedman – 2x bronze medal Paralympian

Notable staff

• Vic Pollard (Former Associate Principal)
• Bruce Logan (Former Curriculum Director)

References

State primary & intermediateState secondary & compositeState-integratedPrivateSpecialDefunct