School information » School history

Taradale Primary School was founded in 1879.

Click here for a history of the suburb of Taradale.

A Little Taradale History

This area will be updated with interesting historical information about Taradale School

1/3/17 In the early days, right up until the 1920’s many of the pupils at Taradale Primary School rode their horses to school. They had to be tied up in a special paddock!

9/3/17  For many years, Taradale Primary also ran a ‘side school’ under their banner in Greenmeadows but that was destroyed in the 1931 earthquake with the unfortunate loss of 3 lives. It had 600 pupils in attendance at the time!

14/3/17    We have had three All Blacks who have attended the school and one All White. The All Blacks were Bert Grenside, E.R.G Steere, and R Williams. The All White is Andy Boyens.

28/3/17  Nowadays TPS has well resourced hockey teams and lots of players. Back in the early days of the school the game of hockey was played ‘with rather more zest than regard for rules and was quite a dangerous affair’. Hockey sticks were often branches that the kids broke off the trees and some even used golf clubs. Often the only ball available was a golf ball.

6/4/17  TPS has such a strong PTA and it seems that this is not unusual. The PTA was first formed in 1948 and was more  of a social interaction but also raised a great deal of money too. Finances were raised through an annual School Ball, and PTA social and dance for the local youths. How things have changed!