Our History
Timaru South Site officially opened in 1881 as a side school of Timaru Main. The opening roll was 140 – 150 and it became known as Timaru South School in 1896. The School became a contributing school in 1974 with the opening of Watlington Intermediate in the area and maintained a roll between 270 and 300. In 2005 the school once again became a Full Primary School.
The current roll is approximately 210
Following the review of 2004, Timaru South had the challenge of maintaining two sites; one at the original location and a Pareora campus. In 2018 the Pareora campus was closed following roll reduction and Timaru South School returned to operating on a single site.
The buildings are all in excellent condition and provide attractive, modern facilities for students and staff. Considerable refurbishment and development has occurred over the past five years. Some has been planned as part of the modernization programme and the remainder due to the school merger in 2005. The Junior Block had a major upgrade and refurbishing in 1994, providing effective links between classrooms and the sharing of work spaces. A second block of four classrooms, built in 1964, was refurbished in 2003. The Administration Area was upgraded in 2002 as part of a two-stage development. The first being the adjacent Library, Resource Room and Teachers Workroom in 2002. In 2014 a Play-Perform-View area was developed. This area provides for a range of presentations and performances as well as providing a wide scope for creative play. As a result, staff have easier access to resources, communication technologies, reproduction and presentation facilities.
During 2005, the school was enhanced by having two new modern teaching blocks completed to provide quality learning spaces for students in Years 5 & 6 and Years 7 & 8s. During 2006 the School Hall (Memorial Hall) was completely refurbished providing a facility to support most areas of the curriculum. In 2017 the campus’s decommissioned swimming pool was converted into ‘The Aqua Garden,’ a place to relax, explore and tend plants.