Our history

It all began back in 1922 when The Correspondence School was established to provide lessons to approximately 100 isolated primary school children scattered throughout New Zealand. All the lessons and letters to students were written by hand by the School’s first teacher, Miss Janet Mackenzie.

In 1923, a second teacher was employed by the school once the roll hit 218 students and a year later, the school’s first headmaster was appointed.

1927 saw the roll reach 720 students, and in 1928, the school widened its reach to include courses for an initial intake of 50 secondary students.

The first radio broadcasts were made to students in 1931, although at that stage they were not formal lessons.

In 1934, the roll had grown to around 1,800 primary and secondary students, and the teaching staff numbered 45. An Ex-Pupils Association was formed, followed by the Parents Association and The Special Education Service in 1936.

In 1948 the government announced that all schools would be closed due to the polio epidemic. TCS prepared lessons to be sent to every home in New Zealand as well as broadcast lessons from January to mid-April 1948.

1949 proved to be a momentous year, with the first course in Te Reo Maori launched, and the first residential school for male students held (residential schools were then held on alternate years for males and females).

"A Letter to the Teacher", a film about the school, was shown in theatres throughout the country in 1955 and nominated for inclusion in the Berlin Film Festival. In 1960, the work of the school with rural children with special education needs was praised by the 1960 Royal Commission, and ways to extend or increase the service investigated.

Fast forward to 1976 and early childhood students (aged between three and five) unable to attend a play centre or kindergarten because of distance, illness, disability, or itinerancy were enrolled for the first time.

Also in 1976, the first permanent school building officially opened at Portland Crescent in Thorndon, Wellington and 10 years later control of the school passed from the Department of Education to an elected Board of Trustees.

The 1990s proved to be a time of great change. Bar-coding was introduced across the school to record the movement of student work and resources, the first CD-ROMs and the student database (Xtend) were developed, and the first interactive teaching sessions with schools using audiographics were introduced.

It was also the end of an era for a number of initiatives, such as radio broadcasts and residential schools, which ended in 1990.

The first Learning Centre was established at Ruatahuna in 1996 and, in 1999, the school’s Student Resource Centre opened in Petone.

In 2001, the first e-learning pilot, involving 300 students, was established, and the school’s Parents Association was renamed The Correspondence School Parents’ and Supervisors’ Association (TCSPSA). A year later The Friends of The Correspondence School Association became a branch of TCSPSA.