Interesting Fast Facts
The following list provides a summary of all the key facts mentioned on the previous School History pages.
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The school was built by Fletcher Construction and officially opened on 29 September 1959, although enrolments were accepted from 26 August 1959.
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An anticipated starting roll of 145 resulted in an actual starting roll of 162.
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The school was named Ashburton Netherby School to avoid confusion with Netherby School in the North Island and is named after the suburb in which it is located.
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The school was built with four classes but quickly increased to eight.
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Mr. Small was the first principal of Ashburton Netherby School and the longest serving principal in Ashburton at that time.
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At its peak, the school had approximately 410 students and utilised three transportable classrooms on the back field to accommodate the enrolment.
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The school pool was opened on 25 February 1960.
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The school hall was built in 1965 by Bradfords Construction.
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Miss G Bowyer became the first woman to be appointed as a principal in Ashburton when she took up the role at Ashburton Netherby School in 1976.
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The school pool was decommissioned in 1993.
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The iconic school sign of the two pencils at the front of the school was installed in 1996.
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The motto designed in 1976 of “caring, sharing and learning together” still holds to this day, surviving close to 50 years of scrutiny and reviews from many principals.
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The fencing on the road side and between the school ground and showgrounds was installed in 2003 for $50,000 to keep two special needs students safe.
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Ashburton Netherby School has been a pilot school for several ideas and interventions over the years.
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Ashburton Netherby School was the pilot school for the well known Ashburton based Kai for Kids scheme in 2021.
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Ashburton Netherby School has received many accolades and commendations over the years and still continues to be considered a high performing school through Education Review Office evaluations.
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