Last updated October 2026
College Street Normal School is a state, co-educational primary school for Years 1 to 6 at 402 College Street, Hokowhitu, Palmerston North. It opened in 1893 and had 623 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes parts of West End, Hokowhitu, Fitzherbert, Palmerston North Central and Turitea; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site describes a student-centred, personalised approach to learning built around its Engage, Explore, Empower vision, and links to a kapa haka group and a school sports site. It also enrols international students, who live with homestay families arranged through the school, and lists Kelly Club before and after school care.
At a glance
- Principal
- Simon Marshall
- Address
- 402 College Street, Hokowhitu, Palmerston North
- Phone
- 06 358 1092
Home zone
Parts of these suburbs: West End Palmerston North, Hokowhitu, Fitzherbert Palmerston North, Palmerston North Central and Turitea Palmerston North: check your street.
Zone boundaries are set by the school’s enrolment scheme and can change. Confirm your address with the school before you rely on it.
Who goes here
Share of the 623 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
3 international students
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Stand-downs and suspensions
Cases per 1,000 students in 2025, adjusted for the ages of the school’s students, compared with all New Zealand schools.
Suspensions: fewer than 5 cases in 2025, so no rate is shown.
These measure how a school responds to behaviour, and schools set their own thresholds, so they are not a measure of how students behave.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a School Report from August 2025. ERO found that learners achieve highly and make strong progress, with most meeting or exceeding the expected curriculum level in reading and maths and a large majority in writing, and results equitable across groups in all three.
A large majority of students attend regularly and the school is getting close to the government’s regular attendance target, with a suitable plan in place.
ERO also noted shared leadership across the staff, careful research-based planning by the board and leaders, structured literacy and maths teaching, good support for learners with complex needs, and strong partnerships with families, the wider community and mana whenua Rangitāne. Its one international student at the time was well cared for.
The priorities ERO and the school agreed are to build the revised English and maths curriculum into classroom practice, line up assessment with the new requirements, keep reading and maths results high, lift outcomes in writing and report on the progress of particular groups of learners, and raise attendance to meet the government target.
Read the ERO reports for College Street Normal School
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol. Families check their address against the zone, read the school prospectus and complete the online enrolment form linked from the school’s enrolment page, and in-zone applicants also provide a statutory declaration.
Out-of-zone places are offered under the school’s enrolment scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places. The school publishes its out-of-zone places and ballot dates on its enrolment page each year.
Schools nearby
Where students go next
Based on home zones around the school’s own address. Families can apply to any school, and your own address decides which zones you are in.
In Hokowhitu
College Street Normal School is in Hokowhitu. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Hokowhitu guide →Questions parents ask
Is College Street Normal School zoned?
It has a home zone covering parts of West End Palmerston North, Hokowhitu, Fitzherbert Palmerston North, Palmerston North Central and Turitea Palmerston North.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 6.
How many students go there?
623 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
It may. It is not in the donation scheme, so it can ask families for donations.
What is its Equity Index?
409. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 24 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Home zone: Ministry of Education enrolment zones (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0).