Cornwall Park District School celebrates 100 years2 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn February, staff and students at Cornwall Park District School (CPDS) celebrated a milestone – its 100th year!
In a low-key ceremony, the school’s oldest girl, Grace Sutcliffe, and youngest boy, Mark Xu, cut the ceremonial ribbon, and then the oldest boy, Dylan Wright, and the youngest girl, Charlize Lau, helped to dig up the time capsule which had buried during the school’s 75th Jubilee in 1996. After the children had viewed the contents of the time capsule, they lined up for to eatthe eagerly awaited commemorative cupcakes.
The school will be holding a Family Fun Fiesta on Sunday 11th April as a more official centenary celebration, and past alumni and staff are warmly invited. See below to register, and find out more.
Brief history
The school opened on 9th February 1921, and back then it was part of Cornwall Park Estate, which was gifted to the people of New Zealand in 1901 by Sir John Logan Campbell in 1901. In honour of Sir John’s birthplace, the school’s logo was inspired by the County of Cornwall’s Coat of Arms.
On its opening day, CPDS had a roll of 198 students, aged five to 12 years. By 1924, the roll had more than doubled, and to accommodate the extra students and teachers, the infant school was opened in 1928. Even this was not enough, as new additional classrooms were urgently needed after that, due to the increased growth of Auckland’s population.
In the mid-1950’s, Remuera Intermediate opened its doors, and CPDS became exclusively primary, catering for students from Primer 1 to Standard 4, as they were then known.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, in parallel with Auckland City’s growth and redevelopment, CPDS went through another major redesign and rebuild. Two decades later, the school experienced another growth spurt, which saw two classrooms replaced by a five-classroom block.
To find out more about the Family Fun Fiesta, go to: cornwallpark.school.nz/2021/02/18/cpds-centennial-family-fun-fiesta-celebrating-100-years
If you are a past pupil and would like to register for the event go to:
cornwallpark.school.nz/cpds-alumni/ or our Facebook page, CPDS Alumni.
(School pupils in Standard I and II in the 1930’s: L-R Grace Sutcliffe, Dylan Wright, Charlize Lau, Mark Xu, with CPDS principal, Janine Irvine)
