Epsom Girls Grammar School (often simplified to Epsom Girls, or EGGS) is a state secondary school for girls ranging from years 9 to 13 in Auckland, New Zealand. It has a roll of 2,200 as of 2025, making it one of the largest schools in New Zealand.
The principal is Brenda McNaughton, the 12th principal, who succeeded Lorraine Pound in 2024.[3][4] She succeeds a long line of distinguished educators such as Margaret Bendall and Marjory Adams.[5]
History
Epsom Girls' Grammar School in 1926
Epsom Girls Grammar School was established through an endowment of land in 1850 and officially opened on 12 February 1917 with 174 students.[6] Establishing Epsom Girls was described as a "struggle", as "despite a clear need for a second girls’ school in Auckland, education administrators continued to prioritise boys’ education. Eventually EGGS emerged as an old, adapted Villa and a handful of classrooms on the Silver Road site. When the doors opened in 1917 the School had already exceeded capacity."[7]
Boarding facilities are provided on-site at Epsom House, providing full accommodation for 150 students from overseas and rural New Zealand.[8]
The Old Girls Association was established in 1921, and holds a number of events each year for alumnae.[9]
In 2021, Metro (magazine) reported that Epsom Girls Grammar School was the top performing non-religious state school in Auckland over the last five years (based on Ministry of Education data of the five-year average of university entrance attainment).[10]
Property prices in the Epsom Girls Grammar School and Auckland Grammar School school zones (known as the "double Grammar zone") are particularly high - Epsom Girls is the second most expensive school zone to buy in within Auckland (with the first being Auckland Grammar School).[11] The zone covers large swathes of four of the city’s highest value suburbs – Remuera, Epsom, Parnell and Mount Eden. Real estate agents have commented that being in the "double Grammar zone" could add up to $500,000 to the value of a family home.[12]
Enrolment
As of March 2025, Epsom Girls' Grammar School has a roll of 2,286 students, of which 249 (10.9%) identify as Māori.[1]
As of 2025, the school has an Equity Index of 400,[13] placing it amongst schools whose students have the fewest socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 9 and 10 under the former socio-economic decile system).[14]
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