History of Balmoral School

In Pre-European times, the lower area of the school field was a small lake known as Te Roto a Rangi (Rangi’s Lake). It is now dried up and was situated at the rear of St. Alban’s Church. It was named for Rangi of Maungakiekie (Te Wai-o-Hua) who often came down there with her attendants to gather freshwater shellfish. History tells us that at some stage, Rangi was captured by a group of Ngāti Whātua (Kaipara). Today you can still find a damp gully to the south and west of the church running down towards the low ground on our school field. Flowing water can still be heard in the culvert on the western boundary of our school grounds.

In the early 1900s, the suburbs of Mount Eden, Mount Albert and Mount Roskill were experiencing rapid population growth. The tram from Queen Street ran as far as Wiremu Street (Williams Street) and many of the side roads were just shingle lanes. In 1920, two sections of land were purchased from Mr J. Chapman at a cost of 9,600 pounds to establish a school.

Balmoral School was opened as Brixton School in 1926. Records show that some parents in the area disapproved of the requirement that they had to leave their established schools to attend Brixton School.

The first lessons were held on April 6 1926 with a roll of 158 children. In 1927 the roll had grown to 500 pupils with more than 60 students in each class. In 1934, heating was installed and there was a noticeable improvement in attendance. By 1937, an infant block had been built and the school became a full primary. Early the next year extra land was bought and an entrance was established from Saint Albans Road.

By 1945, the school had become an intermediate school under the leadership of Mr T. Pemberton. The infant school, which was located in the administration block, came under the jurisdiction of Maungawhau School. The next year, Charles Beeby visited the school to check on its progress and the manual block was developed. The infant school was finally moved to Maugawhau in 1965.

In 1994, after a review of schooling in Mount Eden, it was decided to re-establish a primary school on the Balmoral School site. Over the next few years, a number of new classrooms were built. By 2011, the roll of the school had grown to about 815 students.

Currently, the school is run as two separate entities with an Associate Principal responsible for each school. There is a primary school catering to children from the ages of 5 to 10. There is also an intermediate school catering specifically to the needs of the emerging adolescent.