Welcome to Winchester Rural School

For a small to medium sized school we offer a broad range of exciting opportunities for our children, a holistic approach, encouraging children’s passion and interests as drivers of learning as well as focused learning times on the core curriculum areas of reading, writing and math's.

Our school roll has grown so we now have an enrolment zone. We know the importance of catering for children’s individual needs and do this by keeping our class numbers as low as possible, having skilled teacher aides in many classes and an extra teacher who works with individuals supporting reading. We also look for ways to support and encourage our children’s talents and passions by providing extension opportunities.

Our contributing primary school caters for Year 0-6 children and then our children primarily move onto the local high schools of Opihi College and Geraldine. But some go into the Timaru high schools.

The last opportunity to showcase Winchester Rural School through the triennial Education Review Office (ERO) was 2016, proving that we do provide a high quality of education for our children. The ERO model of working has now changed and in 2021 we moved into a new era of working in partnership with ERO.

For a rural school, we are well resourced in both personnel and physical areas, within an attractive environment. Our heated pool is of benefit to both our children and the Winchester community. We are currently planning building projects to meet the growth and maintenance needs of the school. As part of this we are planning to add a new 'break out space' between our two senior classrooms, with a central courtyard for the children to meet and play in. We have just completed an upgrade of our library building, which is the oldest in the school. To celebrate the school’s Jubilee we installed a new junior playground.

We are always looking for ways to enrich our school environment. Some outcomes are already evident around school with murals, school vege garden and our bottle house. The roadside school sign is well known and frequently commented on, with its changing messages to inspire, inform and reflect on.

Our children achieve in a range of academic, cultural and sporting endeavor's throughout the year and we see this continuing in the years to come.

Our school has a very active and supportive Board of Trustees and Parent Teacher Association (PTA). These groups work well with the children, staff, parents and wider community to increase the range of opportunities for our children.

We see the primary school years as vital foundation blocks to set up a lifetime of learning. We have high expectations of our children and encourage a commitment by parents to help support and prepare their child for our ever-changing world.

We look forward to welcoming you and your whanau to Winchester Rural School.

Our History

Here is a short review of how far we have come:

It was on October 21 in 1870 that the first Winchester School – known then as the Waihi Crossing School was opened. 49 children started at the school on the first day.

Our first school was situated, not on our present site but about 100metres due east of the Masonic Lodge.

In 1887, the school caught on fire during the night and all that remained was the chimney and land around it. Until a new school could be built some of the children continued to have lessons in the library and school house.

In 1888 a new school was built on the present site.

It was not until 1891 that it was renamed Winchester School at the suggestion of a Mr Inwood who had been a Chairperson of the School Committee.

It was named after the English town that was his birthplace. During the First World War many ex-pupils went off to Europe, to distant battlefields. Others participated in various patriotic duties. To honour those who died a memorial ‘The Monument’ that still stands at the end of the school grounds was built. The project was financed partly by school fundraising.

In 1955 Te Awa School closed and a number of children attending there transferred to Winchester.

In 1977 one of the greatest changes in schooling happened when the Form 1 and 2 children left the school to go through to Temuka and we became a Year 0-6 school.

In 1990 the Board bought a school bus (we have two now and a minibus) to start the first school bus run.

Then in 2005 we changed our name for the last time, becoming Winchester Rural School, as we merged with Milford at the closure of the Milford School.

The layout of the schoolgrounds and the buildings have changed over the years and continue to evolve.

In 2020 we were hoping to celebrate our school’s 150th anniversary with a jubilee and reunion.

However, the Covid pandemic meant we had to postpone. This was not the first time a Jubilee has had to be postponed.

The 75th Jubilee was delayed for 2 years because of World War 2. Instead it was celebrated in October 1947.

We are intending to celebrate our 155th anniversary in 2025.

It is humbling to be part of such a long history and to know that so many people have contributed over the years to establishing and running our school.

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