Arthur Street School is located in Arthur Street, Dunedin and is bordered by a public reserve, the Town Belt and Otago Boys High School.

Arthur Street School is Dunedin’s longest-established school, with a distinctly unique origin. It began aboard the Philip Laing, where immigrant schoolteacher James Blackie held the first classes during the voyage. Upon arrival in Dunedin, the school moved to a waterfront location near the foot of Dowling Street and became known as the Beach School.

In 1864, it was relocated to the corner of Tennyson Street and York Place and renamed the Middle School. Thirteen years later, in 1877, the school moved to its current site and adopted the name Arthur Street School.

The original buildings were replaced in the mid-1960s with a full rebuild. Most recently, in 2024, the school underwent another major transformation. Today, it stands as a modern, purpose-built facility—designed to meet the needs of 21st-century learners.

Our school community not only brings to the school a diverse cultural and linguistic background but also a diverse social and economic background.

The school welcomes involvement of parents and caregivers in the school environment.

School vision

Arthur Street School is Dunedin’s old­est school and as such, has a long and proud tra­di­tion of provid­ing primary edu­ca­tion for the chil­dren in its care.

• Factors that make Arthur Street School the spe­cial place it is include the fol­low­ing:

• Every child is acknow­ledged as a unique indi­vidu­al with spe­cial qual­it­ies and needs. It is the school’s respons­ib­il­ity to meet these needs in the best pos­sible way.

• Chil­dren are encour­aged and sup­por­ted in acknow­ledging and respect­ing their own rights and the rights of oth­ers.
  Whakamana (Respect), Whaimana (Respons­ib­il­ity) and Whakamahi (Resilience) are key val­ues encour­aged in all that we do.

• Arthur Street School wel­comes and encour­ages parental/caregiver input. Par­ents are wel­come at any time into the school with our “open door poli­cy”. Fort­nightly news­let­ters, house meet­ings, open BOT and PTA meet­ings, par­ent inter­views and ready access to teach­ing staff and the prin­cip­al are some of the ways good home/school com­mu­nic­a­tion is main­tained.

• The school oper­ates a Stu­dent School Coun­cil.

• Arthur Street School has a strong com­mit­ment to provid­ing the best pos­sible learn­ing envir­on­ment includ­ing the latest resources, tech­no­logy and staff devel­op­ment pro­grammes for its mem­bers.