Mansfield House is at the southern end of the school by the gully. The House was dropped in by helicopter in 1983 to meet the needs of a slight and temporary population bulge! In essence Mansfield is a collection of prefabs which is why it is different from the other houses and in theory we could be dismantled if it was ever required.

The first House Leader was Rhys Davies who went on to become an Assistant Principal. Mr Davies established the founding values of the house and it was named after New Zealand’s famous short story write Katherine Mansfield. At the time there was a popular newspaper cartoon strip called Footrot Flats which depicted the quintessential New Zealand rural scene. As Katherine Mansfield talks about man’s faithful friend, the dog, and Dog was a leading character in the cartoon it was serendipitous that Dog be suggested as the mascot for the House. Murray Ball, creator of the series, kindly gave his permission and thus Dog entered the daily life of Mansfield. It was also decided that purple become the House colour as it was the Imperial colour.

Mr Davies was succeeded by Mrs Alison Glasgow-Palmer who brought new life to the House. Nobody from those eras will forget Mansfield marching into the athletics sports accompanied by a brass band ( sometimes a bit depleted in numbers). Mrs GP (as she was known to all) was a talented arts and crafts person and with the help of Justine Hawkesworth the décor in Mansfield took on a distinct “purple” tone. Competitions celebrating the life of Katherine Mansfield started along with the biggest birthday bash in town when October came around. Move over Taihape – Gumboot throwing was a sport here first!

When Mrs GP left to have Katie it was a very sad bunch of students who farewelled her on maternity leave. She was ably replaced by Mr Gary Olver who brought his own South African influence to bear. However he didn’t quite fit into the “Dog” costume so that had to be put aside for a while. House assemblies had an interesting level of humour at that point and interhouse competition was fierce – a 6ft 3in “saffi” spurred on the worst athlete!

Upon Mrs Gp’s return to the House, Katie became a much loved part of the place and she was often seen running around on sports days etc with her purple wellies and a collection of purple clothing. She was always happy in the company of the Mansfield students  and totally spoilt. Alas Mrs GP left again to spend more time with Katie and Mrs Mary Kearns was appointed to be the new House Leader.

Mrs Kearns brought with her a range of skills from previous schools and also time spent in Japan. Little pieces of Origami began to make their appearance around the house and as she taught within the house there was a lot of Japanese language to be heard as well. However she too left to have a baby and once again Mr Olver stepped into the breach. However he was then appointed to the position of Head of Science at Papatoetoe High School so Mrs Kenzie McConnel, Deputy House Leader of Kupe, was asked to step in and hold the fort until Mrs Kearns returned.

That was not to be as Mr Kearns was offered a job in Singapore so the entire family moved off there leaving Mrs McConnel in charge temporarily. Like the temporary building this became a permanent fixture and Mansfield has continued on its way, keeping the best of the old and introducing some of the new. The staff and students alike are fond of their “comfy old building” which has recently had a massive upgrade both inside and out, engendering a large degree of pride.

As our motto says “ I want to be all I am capable of being” and all students are given the opportunity to do just that in whatever field they choose with support from all within the house.