GIFT TO THE NATION

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20726, 9 February 1939, Page 8

GIFT TO THE NATION

Education in New Zealand has been the richer because of the establishment at Cambridge in 1936 of St. Peter’s Preparatory School, which has been handed as a gift in trust to the people of the Dominion by its founder and headmaster, Mr A. F. B. Broadkurst. It is a matter for gratification that so fine an institution has been placed on a permanent administrative basis for the benefit of the country, and that its founder is to continue as headmaster. To the people of the Waikato particularly the school is held in high regard, for apart from its excellent educational record, its establishment at Cambridge was a great compliment to the district. It was not until after touring the world that Mr Broadhurst selected Cambridge as the most suitable place for the founding of the school of his dreams. St. Peter’s represents an ideal. Its founder left a successful business career in England because he wished to provide a model school for the preparation of young students for the higher forms of education. With admirable spirit and perseverence he gained practical experience in good English schools and then set out in quest of the ideal location for his own school. He found it eventually at Cambridge, and the success of the school he founded must be a source of great satisfaction to him. Those fortunate enough to spend the early years of their school life at St. Peter’s owe a great debt of gratitude to the man who brought the school into being. He has now set a further fine example by presenting St. Peter’s and all it stands for to the nation. The school, still young in years, already has a tradition and is known widely as one of the finest institutions of its kind in the Empire.