Te Aratai College

Founded in the early 1950s to cater for the secondary educational needs of a growing population in eastern Christchurch, Linwood High School became one of New Zealand's larger secondary schools during the 1970s, with a roll of over 1600 pupils at one point. However, as it also served a relatively low socio-economic area of industrial southeast Christchurch, and promoted sporting achievement alongside academic achievement, the school gained a reputation for being "rough".

Following the introduction of the 1989 Tomorrow's Schools policy, the role declined from about 1500, in 1990, to 775, in 2000. Much of this decline was attributed to the relaxation of school zoning restrictions and the resulting white flight by affluent families within the large south-eastern Christchurch catchment area sending their children to higher decile schools, that had a better academic reputation.

In 1975 the school began to take in deaf students from Van Asch College.[4]

With the appointment of a new principal, Rob Burrough, in 2000, the school undertook a rebranding exercise, changing the name from High School to College, and, consulting with both students and the community, rethought how it taught students. By 2004 the roll had climbed to 1080, academic results were above the New Zealand average and sports participation had noticeably increased.

In 2010, principal Rob Burrough resigned to take up a head-teacher post in Mombasa, Kenya. In 2015, Richard Edmundson was appointed principal. Since his appointment he has overseen the rebuild of the Linwood College campus as well as the introduction of a new enrolment scheme in 2020.

At 1 July 2021, Te Aratai College had 754 students enrolled, of which 56% were male and 44% were female. By prioritised ethnicity, 34% of students identified as Māori, 20% as Asian, 9% as Pasifika, 1% as another minority ethnicity, and 35% as European.[13]

Former teaching staff include:

• Paul Ackerley – Olympic gold medalist, Hockey, 1976
• Chris Arthur – Former New Zealand Black Stick
• John Graham – All Black
• Brenda Rowberry – Former Silver Fern

• Ann Boelee – teacher & member of the New Zealand national netball team that won the 1967 world cup
• Kees Bruin – painter[14]
• Sir Kerry Burke – local body politician
• Guy Cotter – mountaineer & CEO of Adventure Consultants[14]
• Tony Fomison – a notable New Zealand artist[14]
• Mike Hosking – TV and radio presenter
• April Ieremia – former Silver Fern and television presenter
• Rodney Latham – New Zealand cricketer
• Saskia Leek – a New Zealand painter[14]
• Rodney Macann – opera singer[14]
• Max Merritt – singer/songwriter
• Dick Motz – a notable New Zealand cricketer[15]
• Matthew Palmer – Justice of the High Court of New Zealand
• Paul Reid – Actor on Shortland street, Singer Songwriter for Rubicon, Real estate investor
• Scribe – rap artist
• Anna Simcic-Forrest – swimmer, Commonwealth Games gold medallist
• Llew Summers – a sculptor based in Christchurch[14]
• Tiki Taane – singer/songwriter; former lead singer of Salmonella Dub
• Brent Todd – rugby league player
• Kevin Trenberth – USA based climate change scientist[14]

• Official website