Construction on the school began in July 2015, and was completed in January 2017.[6]
Rolleston College was opened on 30 January 2017, and was initially open only to Year 9 students in the first year of secondary school. The school added year levels annually as the 2017 Year 9 cohort moved through; the school opened to all year levels (Years 9 to 13) in January 2021.[7]
At the time of opening, Rolleston College was the first state high school to open in Canterbury in more than 30 years.[8] Prior to Rolleston College's opening, the nearest secondary school to Rolleston was Lincoln High School in the town of Lincoln.[9]
The school consists of approximately 150 teachers, and 200 total staff.[10] The principal is Rachel Skelton who replaced the first principal Steve Saville in 2020 after he stepped down in December 2019.[10][11][12][8]
The school plans to create a second campus, as the original campus was not designed to cater for upwards of 1,500 students.[6] The second campus is planned to house senior students, while the original campus would be exclusively for juniors[13] The second campus is expected to open in 2025.[14]
There has been some criticism of this decision, with some critics saying that opting to create a second secondary school in Rolleston would have been the more favorable decision.[15]
Then-Minister of EducationChris Hipkins said at the end of 2021, when making the land purchase announcement, that the expansion would take the college’s capacity to about 3400 students.[14] If the school reaches or exceeds its future capacity, that would make Rolleston College the largest school in New Zealand, beating out Rangitoto CollegeinAuckland, which has around 3200 students.[5]
