St Heliers School History

The school has a special place in the history of the District since it was the first public school to be established in the Tamaki area.

In 1877 a small private denominational school run by the Presbyterian Church on what is now the corner of Line and West Tamaki Roads provided the only educational facility in the St Heliers District. The nearest public schools available for children in the Tamaki District were Panmure and Mt Hobson (Remuera).

St Heliers residents petitioned the Education Board in 1877 asking that a Public School be established. The Education Board accepted the proposal and authorised the opening of the school on 12 February 1877 in a building in which a private school had been conducted. The first public school built in the District, the new 'Tamaki West' school opened at the beginning of June 1879. It was erected beside St Thomas' Church on a two-acre paddock fronting Kohimarama Road.

For thirty years the one-roomed school remained there. During the 1908-1909 Christmas holiday period the school was moved on wheels by a traction engine to the corner of St Heliers Bay Road and Maskell Street. The school was then named St Heliers School.  It remained the only state school in the Tamaki area until the opening of Glendowie School in 1952.