History of Welbourn

Welbourn School – The Beginning

At the beginning of the 1930’s it was obvious that there were many children now living in the Welbourn area. Many of these children were from the nearby Railway settlement, which was established in the early 1920’s. It was therefore decided by the Taranaki Education Board that land would be purchased from the Railways for the purpose of a public school. Two classrooms were moved from Central School to the site near Avenue Road (Later to be named Coronation Avenue) and a new school was opened on the 1st of February 1932 with 38 pupils attending on the first day.

For a time, the school was known as the School on Avenue Road, but was later named Welbourn after the Rev Brown, who opened the first Welbourn School that was situated at the top of Carrington Road. This school closed in 1877 and in 1890 a new school, situated near Hurworth Road, named Carrington School was opened. After over 40 years serving that community, Carrington School was closed and consolidated into Welbourn School in 1938. The old Carrington School was transported to the Welbourn site and became the school’s assembly hall, which is still in use today.

The two original prefab buildings from Central school were replaced by two new classrooms in 1937 and a further two added in 1939. This building remains as the school’s library, two classrooms and the original administration block.

Written by Janet Murdoch – Former Welbourn teacher & author of ‘The Railway Leads To Welbourn’