In nineteenth century New Zealand, district high schools developed in a
number of settlements, often outside the main centres, but few sur-vived
for long. This book documents the history of Cambridge District High
School in the Waikato, which was started in 1883 but was closed in 1888.
The school is placed in the context of the Cambridge community of the
1880s. The views of the local population, the School Committee, the
parents of the High School pupils and the Auckland Education Board are
documented. The School Committee members were leaders in the community
and ran the school as they ran other community organi-sations. However,
petty differences that arose in a small community led to divisions among
parents, teachers and the School Committee members. The Auckland
Education Board had little enthusiasm for such schools, preferring to
support only primary schools even in areas far from the secondary
schools of Auckland City. The main concern of the Education Board was
financial not educational; the Board consi-dered the district high
school was not financially self-sufficient and it was closed.