Avondale College is a state coeducational secondary school located in the central Auckland, New Zealand, suburb of Avondale. With a roll of students from Years 9–13 (ages 12–18), it is the third largest secondary school in New Zealand. Overview The principal of Avondale College and head of the 180 teachers is Lyndy Watkinson. Watkinson became principal in 2020 after the retirement of Brent Lewis; Lewis became principal in 2001 after the death of Phil Raffills, taking over from acting principal and former deputy principal Warren Peat, who went on to become principal of Saint Kentigern College. Raffills oversaw the redevelopment of the school buildings after much of the site was destroyed in a fire in 1990. Avondale College students wear a black and white uniform with the school crest on it that has variations depending on year level and gender, which changed from an older black, white and grey one in 2004. Avondale has a sister school in Japan called Daito Bunka, which is a preparatory school for Daito Bunka University, Tokyo. The school has adopted NCEA and CIE for assessments and examinations. CIE was adopted in 2009. History Early history The site and buildings of Avondale College started as an American Naval Hospital in 1943 – U.S. Naval Mobile Hospital Number 6. At that time, the United States was preparing for an extended World War II battle in the South Pacific, and Auckland was chosen as one of a few New Zealand cities for hospitals to tend the wounded army and naval personnel. The facility was designed by Tibor Donner (then in the NZ Public Works Department) and was built by Fletcher Construction. The Department of Education had some of the site planned for a new secondary school to cope with the overcrowding of Auckland secondary schools. The hospital was given first priority, but a small portion of the buildings were built in permanent materials so that the wards, the gymnasium, the hall and some other buildings could be converted into a school at the end of the war. The extent of the hospital was huge, taking up all of the present school site as well as the nearby Rosebank Park and fields. The war in the Pacific did not reach the scale preparations had been made for, and the hospital was not used to care for war casualties. In February 1945 a single school committee was appointed to