Chair’s report
Christ’s College’s 175th year was both one of transition and significant progress. It marked the first full academic year under the leadership of our excellent Headmaster, Joe Eccleton. The greatly improved academic results set out in this report – together with the continued strength in sport and cultural programmes – speak for themselves. Most significantly for the College, the 2025 year marked a strategic reset with the adoption of a new strategic plan. The aim of the plan is simple, to ensure that Christ’s College is the leading secondary school for boys in New Zealand. Within the plan, there are five strategic priorities: academic performance, financial sustainability, co-curricular excellence, recruitment and retention of exceptional staff, and community engagement. Underlying all of that, of course, is our Anglican identity, which is central to all we do. This report – intended to help us communicate more clearly to our community about our goals and how we are tracking against them – demonstrates the progress made in the 2025 year. Not all areas progressed equally. Recruitment and retention of exceptional staff is challenging, with a shrinking teaching workforce, and building deeper community engagement will take sustained effort over multiple years. The Warden and Fellows and Headmaster are clear about the work ahead in these areas. Beyond the improved academic results, the area of greatest progress in 2025 is the financial performance. For the first time in over twenty years, the College’s financial performance was materially better than
budgeted. That is due to the hard work of the Headmaster and our CFO, Leigh Stratford, as well as the commitment of the staff to a culture where every dollar is valued. The strong equity returns on the College’s Foundation endowment also enabled the College to repay $8m of debt associated with Upper West. That means the College now only carries up to $7m of debt – an amount that is more appropriate for an institution like ours. Looking forward, the focus will be on implementation of the strategic plan. For the 2026 year, the Warden and Fellows will focus on property – looking particularly at a 10–year capital plan, with an initial focus on the Music School, Tothill Science Block, and boarding facilities. It will also focus on Advancement – as always in our long history, philanthropy is necessary to develop and build our school. Finally, I want to thank all in our community who help to make Christ’s College what it is – a small, private, Anglican boys’ school for both boarding and day pupils, with a tradition of aspiration and excellence. From our exceptionally dedicated Headmaster and staff to our parents, Old Boys, and boys – Christ’s College has
flourished for 175 years because of the deep commitment of our community to its success.
Bene tradita, bene servanda.
Jeremy Johnson KSM Chair
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