Background and Mission

• Auckland Grammar School is a State Secondary School providing an education for boys only from Form Three to Form Seven (Years 9-13).
• The School is a large, central city school situated on the northern slopes of Mt Eden, Auckland. It was endowed in 1850 by Sir George Grey for the education of all New Zealanders and opened in 1869. The School caters for a wide range of socio-economic and ethnic groups and students with a diverse range of needs.
• Auckland Grammar School offers an academic programme with emphasis on national and international syllabi. All pupils are placed in classes targeted to their potential. The School caters for the special needs of the very able by offering accelerated classes and courses. The special needs of less able students are catered for by small class sizes, the careful selection of teachers and the provision of learning assistance programmes. Special provision is made for the disabled in accordance with the needs presented by the particular handicap a student may bear.
• The large staff of the School is hard-working and fully involved in all aspects of school life. The School is served by a number of people who assist with health, special needs, cultural and sporting education.
• The traditions of the School are maintained by extensive patronage from the community.

Educational Philosophy

• Auckland Grammar School provides boys with a rigorous academic education. Each boy is expected to pursue excellence in acquiring the knowledge and skills and the sense of values which the School has always provided. The School will hold fast to these, its core traditions, through which it has achieved a pre-eminence in secondary education and which remain the key factors in fulfilling the aspirations of its community.
• The School insists on all-round excellence in academic, sporting and cultural pursuits, encouraging each boy to recognise and develop his individual potential to the full and to gain pride and satisfaction through setting demanding personal goals and striving to attain them. Opportunities are also given to all boys for participation in group and team endeavours to develop skills in co-operation. Healthy competition is promoted in all activities.
• The School encourages the development of the whole person to produce young men ready, willing and able to assume useful roles in society and to be responsible citizens, some of whom will be international, national and local leaders and all of whom will be sensitive to the needs of others.
• The success of the School depends on the calibre and dedication of its Headmaster and its teachers, on the support of its community, the response of its boys and the strength of its Trustees.
• To this end the School must be aware of the challenges of a changing society, encouraging a respect for tradition and a healthy attitude to change, not for its own sake, but based on careful and sensible evaluation.

General Objectives

• To enable students to achieve a standard of literacy and numeracy comparable to the best international standards.
• To provide a curriculum which in all disciplines will consist of content that is both substantial and rigorous.
• To encourage students to reach their maximum potential by competition with their peers and for this purpose to use academic streaming, form by form.
• To inspire in students a love of learning and respect for knowledge in a wide variety of disciplines.
• To enable students to master skills required to acquire and apply knowledge.
• To teach students the value of hard work and the importance of healthy competition.
• To require students in Forms Three and Four to study a major core of subjects consisting of English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, Languages and a minor core of Physical Education, Music, Art and Technology. No major core subject will consist of a course of less than one year's duration.
• To measure student performance by competitive internal examinations each term and external examinations at senior levels.
• To encourage participation and interest in cultural activities and pursuits which lead to physical fitness and good health.
• To provide school rules requiring a high standard of conduct from students in the interests of creating and maintaining a well-disciplined learning environment for all.
• To develop in students self discipline, resourcefulness, adaptability, creativity, honesty, courtesy, self-reliance, health, self-esteem, pride in personal appearance, public spirit and other personal qualities, and to aim to use these virtues for the good of the School and of society at large.
• To promote attitudes and behaviour reflecting a core of values supported by the School Community, including:
  • The encouragement and reward of effort and achievement
  • The pursuit of excellence in all personal and group endeavours
  • The importance of fulfilling commitments
  • The acceptance of lawful and just authority
  • Respect for and participation in the democratic process
  • The balancing of self-interest with concern and tolerance for others, their cultures and beliefs
• To develop in students sensitivity towards and acceptance of the rights of others in our culturally diverse society.

Academic Excellence

• Over the entire history of the School - 136 years - Auckland Grammar School has stressed the importance of external national exams. They remain today the best guide of accountability and the most accurate feedback for all teachers.
• Auckland Grammar School will continue to support and foster a rigorous traditional education with high stakes external examinations as part of that education.
• There are essentially three key reasons for AGS offering International Qualifications:-

New Zealand senior school qualifications have changed dramatically to a standards-based system. This change involves more internal assessment, less emphasis on external exams and a general 'lowering of standards and expectations'. This is anathema to Auckland Grammar School.

Over the past 20 years the School has fought strongly against the 'mediocrity' and 'equity' lobby group in New Zealand education. We initiated private external exams at Year 12 (Form 6) and Year 13 (Form 7) which operated successfully with the introduction of CIE and NCEA pathways just recently.

Education is increasingly global and each year more of our students want to study at overseas universities and wish to be benchmarked internationally. Hence our desire to offer a genuine international qualification that is acceptable at most 'top' universities around the world.

• Auckland Grammar School is the pre-eminent academic secondary school in New Zealand. Over the years the School has produced:
  • 25 Rhodes Scholars (to Oxford)
  • 14 Girdlers Scholars (to Cambridge)
  • 6 Fellows of the Royal Society of London (the largest number of any school outside UK)
  • 1 Fields Medal winner (Vaughan Jones 1990)
• Nationally, our success in external national examinations over 136 years is unparalleled:

AGS has been the top achieving state school in all external exams for the past 12 years.

Grammar has topped the NZEST Scholarship table for both state and private schools for the past 12 years.

AGS students had 100% pass rate in full A-level exams in 2004, our first year of entry into this challenging exam.

AGS has consistently had University Entrance pass rates over 95% over the past 12 years.

John Morris
Headmaster