The 2025 results are in, and they reveal a new leader in both genders. <\/p>\n
Also featuring in this year\u2019s awards is volleyball. In a glaring omission in 2024, the country\u2019s second most-played sport among secondary school students was not included. Tauranga Boys\u2019 College should feel the most aggrieved about that.<\/p>\n
How can you measure which school is NZ\u2019s best? <\/p>\n
The Herald\u2019s power ranking formula allocates five points for current national champions, three points for runners-up, two points for third \u2013 and if applicable, one point for fourth. <\/p>\n
It also rewards recent success by granting three points for the previous year\u2019s winner, two points for the year before and one point beyond that \u2013 as far back as 2020. <\/p>\n
On that basis, one boys\u2019 school clearly stands out from the pack. <\/p>\n
Westlake Boys\u2019 High School (16 points) has had an incredible year across multiple codes and seasons. At the top of their achievements is winning rowing\u2019s Maadi Cup for the first time in 41 years. The senior boys coxed eight powered home on Lake Karapiro in March, beating South Island champions St Bede\u2019s College and Christ\u2019s College.<\/p>\n
Maadi Cup winners Westlake Boys’ High School with Headmaster Paul Fordham. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
Their First XV once again qualified for the Top Four national rugby finals in Palmerston North after winning their local competition and then accounting for King\u2019s College (29-24) in the Blues regional final. They were run down by a quality Feilding High School side in the semifinal (39-34) but not before they threatened a comeback of their own well after time was up. They eventually finished fourth after falling to Southland Boys\u2019 High School (21-19) in the playoff.<\/p>\n
Westlake Boys’ High School First XV qualified for the national Top 4 in 2025. Photo \/ Bruce Holloway<\/p>\n
Their footballers also finished fourth, while their First XI hockey and basketballers managed one better \u2013 placing third at their national tournaments. <\/p>\n
Their First XI cricket side also managed third in the Gillette Cup late last year. <\/p>\n
To achieve so much in national competitions across so many sports in a period of 12 months is phenomenal. Each of those results stand alone as a great achievement \u2013 but together they surely make Westlake Boys\u2019 High School New Zealand\u2019s best in sport. <\/p>\n
In second place it\u2019s a tie between Christ\u2019s College (12 points) and Tauranga Boys\u2019 College (12 points).<\/p>\n
Ihaka Cate dunks the ball in the new $16m ‘Upper West’ at Christ’s College. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s College were top dog last year and weren\u2019t far off Westlake this time around. They finished second to Shirley Boys\u2019 High School at the national basketball champs last month and third at Maadi Cup. Their consistent success in previous years was key to their overall score. <\/p>\n
Tauranga Boys\u2019 College is a volleyball powerhouse, winning the national title for a second straight year. They\u2019re also traditionally very strong in football and hockey. Their U15 rugby side also won the national tournament for the second year in a row \u2013 and while that doesn\u2019t count for anything in these rankings, it does show that they\u2019ll have a strong First XV in seasons to come. <\/p>\n
In the girls\u2019 rankings, there is a new leader \u2013 but the title will only move about a kilometre from one Christchurch school to another. <\/p>\n
St Margaret\u2019s College (15 points) have had a staggering sporting year, winning three national titles.<\/p>\n
2025 National Secondary School hockey champions, St Margaret’s College. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
The first came on Lake Karapiro when their coxed eight senior girls collected the Levin Jubilee Cup ahead of Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and Rangi Ruru of Christchurch. Next was the national volleyball crown with a resounding 3 sets to nil win over Rangitoto College. They then won hockey\u2019s Federation Cup in August, defeating St Andrew\u2019s College (Christchurch) in the final. <\/p>\n
St Margaret\u2019s is a school of around 800 girls \u2013 but that\u2019s across years 1-13. That makes their success even more impressive.<\/p>\n
St Margaret’s College, winners of the 2025 National Secondary Schools volleyball title. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
Westlake Girls\u2019 High School (13 points). Up until they bowed out of contention at the national netball champs, Westlake Girls\u2019 High was on track to match their male counterparts. They finished third behind Mt Albert Grammar and Howick College. <\/p>\n
Their basketballers were unstoppable, winning their fourth consecutive national title. The four-peat came in Palmerston North at the start of the school holidays with a 30-point final victory over Hamilton Girls\u2019 High School. In reality, they were pushed in only one game all tournament (winning 94-88 against Tauranga Girls\u2019 College).<\/p>\n
Mt Albert Grammar (13) went back-to-back at the football nationals, knocking over Otumoetai College in the final. They also claimed the national netball title with a tight win over defending champions Howick College. Coached by Waana Araroa and former Silver Fern Sulu Fitzpatrick, MAGs went unbeaten through the nationals and also beat Howick in pool play, reversing their quarter-final defeat at the Upper North Island Champs. The co-ed state school has had a year to remember.<\/p>\n
Manukura Girls First XV players, coaches and supporters celebrate a fourth successive victory in the National Top Four rugby competition. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Manukura (11). The Manawat\u016b-based M\u0101ori-focused co-ed school maintained its dominance of one sport: rugby. National champions for the past four years, the school\u2019s programme is run by a former Black Fern and Kiwi Fern, Kristina Sue and supported by high-profile former Black Fern, Sarah Hirini. The tiny co-ed school once again earned a place at both the netball and basketball national tournaments. <\/p>\n
Honourable mention: Howick College (9). Howick\u2019s netball team enjoyed unprecedented success last season and went close to retaining their national title before going down to Mt Albert Grammar in the final (34-32). Their First XV also had another stellar year, returning to the national Top 4 tournament. Howick College is a public school and, like Manukura and MAGs, it is co-educational. <\/p>\n
Where the cups went <\/p>\n
Netball Girls \u2013 Mt Albert Grammar <\/p>\n
Volleyball Boys \u2013 Tauranga Boys\u2019 College, Girls \u2013 St Margaret\u2019s College (Christchurch) <\/p>\n
Rugby Boys \u2013 Rotorua Boys\u2019 High School, Girls \u2013 Manukura (Manawat\u016b) <\/p>\n
Rugby League Boys \u2013 Kelston Boys\u2019 High, Girls \u2013 Auckland Girls\u2019 Grammar <\/p>\n
Cricket Boys \u2013 Christchurch Boys\u2019 High, Girls \u2013 Tawa College<\/p>\n
Football Boys \u2013 Scots College (Wellington), Girls \u2013 Mt Albert Grammar <\/p>\n
Hockey Boys \u2013 Timaru Boys\u2019 High, St Margaret\u2019s College <\/p>\n
Basketball Boys \u2013 Shirley Boys\u2019 High (Christchurch), Girls \u2013 Westlake Girls\u2019 High School <\/p>\n
Rowing Boys \u2013 Westlake Boys\u2019 High School, Girls \u2013 St Margaret\u2019s College <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 results are in, and they reveal a new leader in both genders. Also featuring in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[836,30689,117,111,43,139,69,1118,10112,2729,12860,6649,46453,6182,1961,3010,2963],"class_list":["post-206697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-836","tag-heralds","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-power","tag-rankings","tag-revealed","tag-schools","tag-sporting","tag-stories","tag-this","tag-top","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}