Categories: News

125 years of education in Freemans Bay

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-659" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;09&sol;SN22---News---Freemans-Bay-School&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SN22---News---Freemans-Bay-School" width&equals;"200" height&equals;"150" &sol;>At the end of August Freemans Bay School – known as Napier Street School until 1978 – will celebrate its 125th jubilee&comma; to which all past students and staff are welcome&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When Napier Street School opened in 1888&comma; Freemans Bay was a very different place&period; Sandwiched between the central city and the far western suburb of Ponsonby &lpar;whose few residents at the time were&comma; therefore&comma; Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s original Westies&rpar;&comma; Freemans Bay was already densely populated with Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s working class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many of the school&&num;8217&semi;s students came from the cheek-by-jowl cottages in the area bounded by Nelson St&comma; Wellesley St&comma; Union St and Wellington St&period; Most of those dwellings are long gone&comma; demolished by the Auckland City Council&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8220&semi;urban reclamation&&num;8221&semi; programme in the 1950s and 60s&comma; and the few that remained were removed for the motorway in the mid-1970s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the 125 years of the school&&num;8217&semi;s existence its student population has reflected huge demographic change&period; In the late 1940s Maori all over the country began to move into the cities&comma; and in Auckland many of them settled in Freemans Bay&period; In the late 1950s the migration of Pacific people into Auckland began&comma; and increased significantly in the 1960s and 70s&period; Again&comma; many settled in Freemans Bay and their children attended Napier St School&comma; often arriving without a word of English&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the 1970s the worldwide trend towards inner-city gentrification began&comma; gathering pace in the 80s and 90s until these days Freemans Bay is one of the most expensive parts of Auckland – a fact which would have astonished parents at the school only a couple of generations ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Immigration rule changes in the 1990s have added another layer to the story&comma; prompting people from countries the world over to move to New Zealand&comma; most of them to Auckland&comma; where many of them live – at least initially – in the new multi-storey apartment buildings in the CBD&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The result is that Freemans Bay School enjoys one of the most diverse student populations of any school in the country&comma; which is celebrated as a real strength&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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