Last updated October 2026
Berkley Normal Middle School is a state, co-educational composite school for Years 7 to 10 at 26 Berkley Avenue, Hillcrest, Hamilton. It opened in 1971 and had 769 students on its roll at 1 October 2026.
Its home zone includes all of Newstead, Eureka, Matangi, Hillcrest, Silverdale and Riverlea, and parts of Tamahere, Tauwhare, Hamilton East, Pukemoremore and Puketaha; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site says students are placed in homeroom classes where their homeroom teacher teaches the core curriculum with a focus on literacy and numeracy, while specialist staff teach food and materials technology, digital technology, media, visual art, music, dance, science, drama and physical education.
Year 9 students stay with a homeroom teacher and take on leadership roles, and the school also runs sport, performing arts, outdoor education and international trips, and takes international students with English language support.
At a glance
- Principal
- Nathan Leith
- Address
- 26 Berkley Avenue, Hillcrest, Hamilton
- Phone
- 07 856 6537
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Silverdale Hamilton, Matangi near Hamilton, Hillcrest, Riverlea Hamilton, Newstead near Hamilton and Eureka near Hamilton.
Parts of Tamahere near Hamilton, Tauwhare near Hamilton, Hamilton East, Pukemoremore near Hamilton and Puketaha near Hamilton: 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 769 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
7 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 May 2026. ERO found that success and progress are increasing for all learners, helped by high quality teaching in reading, writing and maths.
Most learners are at or above the expected curriculum level in maths, and a large majority are in reading and writing, though results are not yet equitable across all groups of learners.
ERO noted a positive culture where learners feel they belong, high expectations, good use of achievement data, structured approaches to maths and literacy, good support for learners with complex needs, a broad curriculum and useful reporting to families. As a Normal school, it works closely with the University of Waikato’s teacher education programmes.
A large majority of learners attend regularly and the school is approaching the government’s target, but regular attendance is not yet improving and chronic absence is not yet falling.
ERO’s priorities are to bring the school’s curriculum, assessment and reporting into line with The New Zealand Curriculum with a focus on fair outcomes for every group of learners, to build learning partnerships with whānau Māori, and to lift regular attendance together with families.
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol, and families can check an address with the school’s zone checker. Out-of-zone places are offered under the school’s enrolment scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places, with priority for siblings of current and former students and then other groups set out in the scheme.
The school publishes its out-of-zone application deadline and ballot date on its How to Enrol page each year, and late applications are not accepted. Applications need proof of address and other documents, and the online form is meant to be filled in on a computer or tablet rather than a phone.
Schools nearby
In Hillcrest
Berkley Normal Middle School is in Hillcrest. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
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Questions parents ask
Is Berkley Normal Middle School zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Silverdale Hamilton, Matangi near Hamilton, Hillcrest, Riverlea Hamilton, Newstead near Hamilton and Eureka near Hamilton and parts of Tamahere near Hamilton, Tauwhare near Hamilton, Hamilton East, Pukemoremore near Hamilton and Puketaha near Hamilton.
What years does it teach?
Years 7 to 10.
How many students go there?
769 at 1 Oct 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?
420. 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, 10 Nov 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).