New Plymouth Girls' High School

New Plymouth Girls' High School
Location
60 Northgate, New Plymouth, New Zealand

39°03′21″S 174°05′41″E / 39.0559°S 174.0946°E / -39.0559; 174.0946
Information
TypeState single sex girls' secondary (Year 9–13) with boarding facilities
MottoEt Comitate, Et Virtute, Et Sapientia
(Friendship – Courage – Wisdom
Whakahoanga – Maia – Mātauranga)
Established1914
Ministry of Education Institution no.
172
Principal
Jacqui Brown
Enrollment1,301 (July 2026)
Socio-economic decile
7O
Websitenpghs.school.nz

New Plymouth Girls' High School is a girls' state secondary school in Strandon, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The school separated from New Plymouth High School in 1914, leaving New Plymouth Boys' High School on the old site.

It is currently one of two of New Plymouth's girls' schools along with Sacred Heart Girls' College and has a current roll of 1,301 students.

Students are put into four houses for school activities such as swimming sports, athletics, and house plays. These houses are Tokomaru (yellow), Kurahaupo (blue), Aotea (red) and Tainui (green). The houses are named after four of the first Māori waka to arrive in New Zealand.

Enrolment

As of July 2026, New Plymouth Girls' High School has a roll of 1,301 students, of which 316 (24.3%) identify as Māori.

As of 2026, the school has an Equity Index of 447, placing it amongst schools whose students have below average socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 5 and 6 under the former socio-economic decile system).

Notable staff

Principals

Name Term
1Catherine Grant1914
2Flora Hodges1915–1916
3Rhoda Barr1916–1920
4Ethel May McIntosh1920–1924
5Doris Napier Allan1925–1943
6Rose Allum1943–1968
7Jean Wilson1968–1974
8Noeline Bruning1975–1988
9Jain Gaudin1988–2002
10Annette Sharp2002–2004
11Jenny Ellis2005–2016
12Victoria Kerr2017–2020
13Jacqui Brown2020–present

Notable alumnae

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. 29 November 2013. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "History". New Plymouth Boys' High School. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "New Zealand Equity Index". New Zealand Ministry of Education.
  5. ↑ "School Equity Index Bands and Groups". www.educationcounts.govt.nz. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  6. 1 2 "Death of headmistress: Miss Flora Hodges". New Zealand Herald. Vol. 65, no. 20135. 21 December 1928. p. 14. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Of local interest". Taranaki Herald. Vol. 64, no. 145079. 2 September 1916. p. 5. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Social and personal". New Zealand Times. Vol. 51, no. 11943. 25 September 1924. p. 5. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "Headmistress appointed". New Zealand Herald. Vol. 61, no. 18875. 25 November 1924. p. 10. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "New headmistress". Evening Post. Vol. 135, no. 21. 26 January 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  11. ↑ Shaskey, Tara (19 May 2015). "New Plymouth Girls' High School former principal Jain Gaudin dies of cancer". Taranaki Daily News. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  12. ↑ Harvey, Helen (30 September 2016). "Girls' High principal Jenny Ellis is retiring after 11 years". Taranaki Daily News. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  13. ↑ "New Plymouth Girls' High School principal resigns". Taranaki Daily News. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  14. ↑ Mcilraith, Brianna (10 August 2020). "New Plymouth Girls' High School appoints Jacqui Brown as principal". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Miriam Saphira". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 4 June 2025.