Henderson High School is a co-educational secondary school in the West Auckland suburb of Henderson, New Zealand, catering for students from Year 9 to Year 13. Many notable alumni attended Jubilees held in 2003 (50th) and 2013 (60th). Historically the school has always been an important part of the community and stability of leadership has ensured that it is well resourced with a wide range of facilities. Recent reviews by the Education Review Office have been positive.

Prior to opening, all students from West Auckland who wanted to attend a high school needed to travel to Avondale College, the Seddon Memorial Technical College (now Western Springs College) or to one of the grammar schools of central Auckland.^[3]

In 1950, the Department of Education purchased part of a local dairy farm in Henderson, Auckland and began working on building the school, named after a local businessman Thomas Henderson. When it opened on 1 April 1953, there were "150 third formers, 40 other pupils and a staff of nine, led by the principal Mr A.D.W. Woolcott".^[4] Opening the school officially the Minister of Education noted that while it was important for education to be secular and free, the words of Woolcott at the ceremony indicated that there was a "very real spiritual note in the school".^[5] By 1963, the school was seen as building a strong tradition and had "become a name to reckoned with both in the sporting field and scholastic".^[6] The first annual school prize-giving was held in the Henderson Town Hall in December 1953, with the principal stressing "the benefits of pupils staying at school after their fifteenth birthday, without overlooking the importance of those who work with their hands".^[7]: p.7

From May 1953, the school offered a variety of evening classes for the community, including an English language course for new immigrants. By 1955 there were 320 people enrolled in 23 evening classes.^[7]

Because New Zealand had compulsory military training for 18-year-olds in 1953, the boys at the school started cadets in the first week of school in February of that year. This led to the formation of a Cadet Unit which took part in courses organised at local military training camps until disbanding in 1964 when compulsory military training was abandoned in 1963.^[7] While the boys were doing fortnightly cadet drills, the girls were able to choose from a wide variety of clubs including "art, embroidery, dressmaking, cooking, typing, singing and talks on Maori history".^[7]: p.9

The school band was initially attached to the cadet unit to play for ceremonial parades, with drums and pipes used for marching practice. But in 1964 when the cadets closed down, more modern melodies were introduced and an Instrumental Group was formed leading to the beginning of the Chamber Music Group.^[7] Annual Music Competitions took place through the 1950s and by 1960, there was a mixed choir. School concerts began in 1957, and the 1958 show included "a play, singing, musical items gymnasts and ballet dancing" with skilful guitar accompaniment from Peter Posa, a student at the time who later went on to become internationally acclaimed as a guitarist.^[7]: p.13 At the last school concert in 1962, the orchestra, one of the biggest in Auckland at the time, played Fireworks Music by Handel.

In 1956 ten students completed the University Examinations with a pass figure higher than the average for the whole country. The senior school grew to 38 pupils by 1957.^[7] By 1958, the school had a roll of 550 pupils and a teaching staff of 25. It was noted in a local newspaper that while there was a strong focus on academic training, there was also a "husbandry course...[which included]...general agriculture and horticulture, supported by carpentry, metal-work, blacksmithing and farm bookkeeping".^[8]

Henderson High School was the first school constructed to a new common design plan, which was used during the post-World War II period to speed up secondary school construction. The "Henderson type school" was a single-storey all-timber school design, with long wings of classrooms facing onto corridors, fanning out from a central spine. It was a derivative of the "Naenae type school" (after its first use at Naenae College in Lower Hutt), which with two stories and mixed concrete and timber construction was too slow for a major school building programme. The Henderson school design lasted four years, 1953 to 1956, before it was replaced in 1957 with a new design centred on self-contained classroom blocks.^[7] Other schools in the Auckland area built to the Henderson design include One Tree Hill College, Rangitoto College and Selwyn College.^[9] The 'Woolcott' Library developed from an empty room in 1953 to a free-standing building that was opened in 1971 with students transporting "thousands of books to their new home in a mammoth effort amid much good humour".^[10]: p.4

A new school hall was officially opened on Saturday 25 June 1960 after a week of celebrations including a ball, a mannequin parade fashion parade and the orchestra playing with such "precision...[that the]...woodwind group...were asked to play in the Town Hall Festival".^[7]: p.20 With the help of parents and the community, the swimming pool was opened in 1963. Other sports on offer at the time included athletics, hockey, football, cricket, indoor basketball, rugby and softball and the school's timetable allowed one afternoon each week when students could participate in a sport of their choice.^[7] Work began on a new gymnasium in 1975 and after considerable fundraising to meet the costs of construction, was officially opened in 1978.^[7]: p.43

A meeting was held in 1984 to discuss the proposed marae for the school and the Board of Governors specified that it was to be "a multicultural teaching Marae for the use of HHS pupils and not a community Marae". After the site was consecrated by Sir Paul Reeves on 8 August 1985, a building was moved there to establish the Wharenui in December 1985.^[7]: p.56

In 2003 The Parekura Centre, which had previously been known as the Work Experience Unit, was set up to support the learning of students with special education needs. A local television presenter John 'Cocksy' Cocks joined forces with Ford New Zealand, Variety, the Children's Charity and celebrities Bob Harvey, Ewen Gilmour and contestants from the NZ Idol TV show, to do a 'makeover' of the centre in 2006. The refurbished centre, which had been painted and fully carpeted with a new entry area, kitchen and garden was unveiled on Friday 8 September 2006.^[11] The grand opening, was a procession of around 150 guests, including TVNZ presenter Simon Dallow in strange vehicles, collecting donations and bringing "loud sirens, horns, music and water canons...[and there was]...even an RAF helicopter on the front field".^[7]: p.101

Overseen by the Waitakere Regional Hockey Turf Trust, the school completed a $2 million full-sized hockey pitch in 2011. Also including extra tennis and netball courts, this was part of an ambitious project led by Purcell to improve academic performance through physical activity.^[12]The pitch, which had floodlights, was seen by the principal at the time Mike Purcell as being a community resource and Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod acknowledged that "it was a great move by the school and I think they'll see their players grow and achieve".^[13] Partly funded by Auckland Council through its Sports and Recreation Fund, a hockey pavilion was opened at the school in February 2022. It was stage two of the project that started in 2010, to develop the hockey turf, and with toilets, changing rooms, a kitchen and a multi-use space, the facility would be used by the school, a local hockey club and the community. Waitākere Ward Councillor Linda Cooper said "this [was] another amazing facility that westies deserve, can enjoy and be proud of, and has been a dream of the Waitakere Hockey Turf Trust for over a decade".^[14]

In 2016, as part of their master's thesis work, two architecture students at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland collaborated with Henderson High School to design new shelters for the school staff and students. The buildings were in the style of "garden pavilions... structures that were popular in 18th and 19th century England, designed to enhance the landscape", and the Principal, Mike Purcell said he was "very pleased with the outcomes generated by our involvement with the School of Architecture and Planning. Designed and built by the students the structures provide both a practical and aesthetic benefit to the school".^[15] A successful application by the school in 2018 to The Trusts Community Foundation for $35,045 to buy a van, allowed more students to be transported to extra-curricular activities that offered opportunities in sports, music and the arts.^[16]

The School's 50th jubilee was celebrated from 30 May to 1 June 2003.^[17] The chair of the Jubilee Committee, Mary Harrison, said that there had been registrations from New Zealand and overseas [with] "more than 1400 former pupils and current pupils and staff expected to join the festivities".^[18] Former students who were high achievers in sport nationally, including former All Blacks Michael Jones, Mark Mayerhofler and Eroni Clarke were scheduled to attend. Jones said "it was a wonderful school. I'm very thankful for my years at Henderson High School and how they have shaped my life. I don't have anything but fond memories".^[19] Other notable ex-pupils attending were Phil Clarke, Richie Guy, motor racing champion Paul Radisich, Silver Fern netballer Leonne Wendt Leaver, Timo Tagaloa and Leo Lafaiali'i. The former Mayor of the Henderson Borough Council, Assid Corban, donated a home movie he had of the school's opening day in February 1953. The principal, Owen Hoskin said, "the result is a wonderful, historic piece of film...[and]...there are going to be heaps of old students who will love to watch it".^[20]

• Three students at Henderson High School converted bicycles into electric bicycles in 2018. They told Seven Sharp on TVNZ that they had recycled lithium batteries from old laptops they collected from the community and put them into e-bike batteries.^[31] Their teacher noted that they had got a $15,000 grant from the Ministry of Youth Development.^[32]

The school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students,^[33][34] a document that provides guidelines to ensure that education providers "take all reasonable steps to protect international students; and ensuring, so far as is possible, that international students have in New Zealand a positive experience that supports their educational achievement".^[35]

• Jack Elder, politician

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (September 2023)

• Eroni Clarke, rugby union player
• Trelise Cooper, fashion designer
• Suzanne Donaldson, musician^[38]
• Jan Hellriegel, musician
• Michael Jones, rugby union player
• Danny Lendich, business owner
• Gaven Martin, mathematician^[39]
• Mark Mayerhofler, rugby union player
• Alfred Ngaro, politician
• Peter Posa, musician
• Terry Sturm, editor and academic