Pareawa Banks Avenue School (formerly Banks Avenue School) was established in 1956. We are an urban kura | school situated in Richmond, Christchurch. As a contributing school we cater for Year 0 – 6 ākonga | students. Our new school, opened in July 2022, has a building footprint that was designed as arms that extend around the playground to support our learners as they flourish.

Our unique school design is based on staff research undertaken in Melbourne into best practice in Innovative Learning Environments. We have four teaching pods: Kiwakiwa, Poataniwha, Kōtukutuku, and Manakura. Each pod has two homebase areas, a STEM room, breakout room, Teacher workspace and two meeting rooms.  

Pareawa Banks Avenue School is a diverse community of learners with over twenty different ethnicities, including; Māori, Indian, Samoan, Fijian, African, European, Latin American, Chinese, and Filipino. We provide a structured ESOL programme to help children learn English in their first months in New Zealand. 

Our school has a warm, welcoming atmosphere.  Our kaimahi | staff are approachable and friendly and our school curriculum is broad with many extra-curricular activities on offer. Communication with home is regular and detailed, and parents are encouraged to get involved in all aspects of school life.  

Pareawa Banks Avenue School recognises the importance of whānau | family taking an active part in their children’s education and we are lucky to have many parents assisting with classroom programmes, the library, sports activities, and transport. We have a supportive Board and many parents are involved with our fabulous PTA.

Our school has a very positive relationship with other education institutions in the area. We belong to the Otākaro Kāhui Ako (Community of Learning). The majority of our pupils continue on to Shirley or Chisnallwood Intermediates and then Avonside Girls’ and Shirley Boys’ High Schools. 

There is an after school OSCAR programme which is located in the Avon Hub Spartan Room, adjacent to our school on North Parade. We also have access to another after school programme, Gen Z, to take the overflow of students who need after school care. Children for the Gen Z programme are picked up from school by van and taken off site.