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Saint Kentigern has spent $3.7 million on a Coromandel farm to help educate its students.
The 413ha Wilson Bay Farm will become a third campus for students from Year 4 to 13.
The farm will offer activities studying ecosystems, agriculture and watersports, and includes plans for accommodation for up to 100 students.
One of Auckland’s wealthiest private schools has spent almost $4 million buying a Coromandel farm that will allow students to grow food, manage waterways and study natural ecosystems.
Saint Kentigern College agreed to buy the 413-hectare Wilson Bay Farm last November for $3.7m and plans to use the coastal land as a third campus alongside its Remuera and Pakuranga grounds in Auckland.
It is even exploring the idea of ferrying students by boat from the shoreline of Saint Kentigern’s Pakuranga college in Auckland to the Coromandel farm.
From 2027 onwards, the school aims to have all students from Year 4 to 13 travelling out to the farm each year to experience its “remarkable scale and natural beauty”.
“While it will remain a working farm, our vision is for it to become a place where education comes alive,” Mark Conelly, the chairman of the school’s trust board, said.
That included having students undertake scientific studies on the natural ecosystems, potentially prepare for agricultural careers, enjoy watersports and build friendships across age groups, he said.
Conelly told RNZ’s Checkpoint programme the school’s “initial plan is to have accommodation and lodges for approximately 100 students at a time”.
“But ... we have the opportunity for multiple groups - one group in the lodges and one group potentially under canvas on other parts of the farm.”
The school said it was able to fund the farm’s purchase with the help of its alumni.
Saint Kentigern's Wilson Bay Farm should give students the chance to study ecosystems and potentially prepare for careers in agriculture.
The Wilson Bay Farm block had been on the market since February last year with an initial asking price of $3.975m, according to property website OneRoof.
A real estate advertisement for the land said it was a “coastal trophy farm” with “magnificent sunsets and stunning views to the Coromandel Islands”.
“Currently the farm has approx 160ha of pasture of the total 413ha, more or less, with the balance in native bush with some fabulous stands of nīkau, tawa, pūriri and rewarewa.”
The farm had been used as a successful beef breeding operation and included an “iconic wool shed”.
“Recreational activities available include great fishing right on the doorstep in the gulf or cruise around the bays along the coast, bush walks, horse trekking and pig hunting.”
Saint Kentigern was named in a 2020 Herald article about New Zealand’s 10 richest private schools as the nation’s fifth wealthiest, with net assets at that time of $126m.
It is not the only Auckland school to boast a rural campus.
St Cuthbert’s College girls’ school owns Kahunui in the Bay of Plenty, which gives its Year 10 students the chance each year to spend a month exploring the surrounding wilderness and outdoor adventures.
Mt Albert Grammar, a public school, also uses an 8.1ha working livestock farm to educate 160 students annually in agricultural and horticultural science.
