POU

Following enrolment, each student is allocated to one of four Pou who become their extended family unit here at Avonside Girls’ High School.

The Pou groups are led by our Kaitiaki or Deans who are passionate about supporting the students in their pou, and about winning! Every year we have a number of pou activities which involves fierce competition and rivalry as students and staff compete to win the Pou Shield.

The four Avonside houses or Pou as we now call them, and are named after famous New Zealand women.

Cooper

Dame Whina Cooper was a respected kuia who worked for many years for the rights of her people, and particularly to improve the lot of Māori women. She was known as Te Whaea o te Motu (“Mother of the Nation”).

Cooper Pou is proud to focus on the value of persistence.

Mansfield

Kathleen Murry was a prominent New Zealand modernist short story writer and poet who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield.

Mansfield Pou is proud to focus on the value of creativity.

Sheppard

Katherine Sheppard was the most prominent member of the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country’s most famous suffragist.

Sheppard Pou is proud to focus on the value of determination.

Batten

Jean Batten was a New Zealand aviatrix. She became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930s, internationally, by making a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world.

Batten Pou is proud to focus on the value of daring.