History

1960 - 1980

Port Moresby International School had its

beginnings back in 1959 when a small group of

High School age students met together in a room

at Ela Beach Primary School. They were taking

Australian correspondence courses.

The following year what is now the English Block

became the first brick building built on the

Boroko site. 190 students presented themselves

for enrolment. The original school motto was

Respice ad Finem one translation from the Latin

reads as “Look back at what you have done.”

Port Moresby High School, as it was known, was

an A school. Prior to Independence schools were

accredited by the National Department of

Education to run as A (Australian) or T (Territory)

schools, following the New South Wales 

curriculum.

Sadly, very few records of the 60s exist today.

There are copies of “Frigate Bird” from

1962/63/64/66/69 but the school magazine was

mostly a collection of writings from students.

The school built up slowly over the decade. 

Physically, the school was generally still the two

blocks; what are now the English block and the

Science block that is above the canteen.

All of the teaching staff were expatriate teachers

throughout the 60s. Students were a mixture, 

predominately expatriate. “Frigate Bird” didn’t

start showing pictures of students until 1966.

1970 saw the opening of the Assembly Hall and

the Arts and Music Buildings. 

1970 was the last year of “Frigate Bird” as the

school magazine transformed into “Hereva” by

1971.

Ian Mackellar (Principal 1969-72) wrote in 1993,

"There were four houses adjacent to Boroko East,

four above the High School, plus our residence.

Grounds were completely open - various Goilalas/

Chimbus strolled through each day, often

collecting water, going to and from the settlement

over the hill. The idea of security guards was

beyond comprehension."

There were over 700 students in the school in

1972. 

 

In 1974 PMIS became one of a few "common

curriculum" schools which developed before the

IEA came into being, a curriculum to span the

needs of both the international community and

the PNG community.

 

Steve Mead, former Executive Director of the

IEA, recalled coming to teach at POM High in

1974, where he was Subject Master of Science,

"At that time all the buildings lining the top of

the oval were completed, as well as the Hall, the

Office, and some buildings along the campus

roadway. I used to teach in Room 6… We trudged

up there through a long, muddy path from the

Office at the front. The current library, CDT and

science buildings did not exist then… The science

block, with its modern labs, was built later and

the Library, which is the centerpiece of the

campus, came into existence in 1980.”

In 1977 the International Education Agency was

formed and was associated with the Department

of Education. It undertook the management of a

number of schools throughout the infant nation,

including POM High. Mr Mead was part of the

founding Board of Directors of IEA, as a teacher

rep. and went on to become head of IEA which

now operates as an independent not-for-profit

company. Each school has a Certificate of

Incorporation with the PNG Registrar of 

Companies.

 

1977 also saw the school renamed to

Port Moresby International High School.

The last few years of the 70s was a busy time for

the new Port Moresby International High School.

It was the leading school of the newly formed

IEA, it was growing larger with an ambitious new

building program, and it saw an increase in 

student numbers as both expatriate and PNG

parents came to see it as the leader in Secondary

education.
 

1980-2000

 

The 80s were to see the school become PNG’s

only real international school offering PNG,

Australian, International Baccalaureate, and

Cambridge courses.

 

We thank the pioneers of POM High who brought

the school from a hillside in Boroko East to a

dynamic multi-ethnic school that still leads the

way in Papua New Guinea for Secondary 

education.

 

The 80s and 90s saw the school develop as a truly

international school. From being a school for

expatriate kids with a New South Wales’

curriculum to a majority of PNG students taking

PNG, Cambridge and International Baccalaureate

courses by the year 2000.

 

Mr Brian Gascoigne was the Principal in 1981 and

oversaw the introduction of the Industrial Arts

Block and the beginning of PMIHS designed

subjects allowed by the NSW Department of

Education.

 

Mr Terry Riles had previously been a

Deputy and stepped into the top job in 1982, the

year the Resource Centre opened.

 

1983 and the school was starting to look much as

it does today.

 

The population of the school throughout the 80s

remained fairly stable with around 650-700 

students from 40 different nations. It’s during

the late 80s that the PNG population of the

school reaches 50% and keeps on increasing.

Due to an influx of Northern Hemisphere

students the school introduced the Cambridge O

Levels in 1985. These were a series of courses

and examinations for students in Year 10. Just

two years later these courses became the basis

for the International General Certificate of

Secondary Education, or IGCSE, that was 

introduced in 1987. PMIHS was one of the 

pioneering schools that helped introduce the

IGCSE to the world. These examinations still form

part of the International curriculum today.

 

The International Baccalaureate granted the

school permission in 1987 to start the Diploma

Program. We are still the only school in Papua

New Guinea authorized to offer the IB Program.

Our school number, allocated in 1987, was 257.

Today, our number is 000257, a reflection on the

fact that over 5,000 schools worldwide offer IB

Programs now. We are proud to have been

involved with the IB for so long.

 

Colin Brown, apart from introducing the 

International Baccalaureate, the Cambridge

system and the switch to the ACT High School

Certificate, was also in charge when the school

was admitted to the European Council of 

International Schools, 1991.

 

The ECIS has undergone many changes since that

time but at one stage it was the mark of an

International School to be a member of the

organisation. The ECIS audited schools, their staff

and courses to allow international families a

guide to the best schools in the world. 

Today, we are regularly audited by the

International Baccalaureate, Cambridge

International Assessment and the Board of

Senior Secondary Studies, based in the Australian

Capital Territory. Our international authorisations

are our way of showing the standards and levels

that we achieve based on accredited

international educational authorities.

 

1993 was the last year of operation for

Port Moresby International High School. In the

words of Colin Brown, from the introduction to

the 1993 “Hereva”, “Change has come with the

increased cooperation with Boroko East 

International Primary School next door. This leads

us to the formation of a single Pre-school to

Grade 12 School from January 1994. Port 

Moresby International School.” A new name for a new school
that was to last until the year 1999.

 

A worldwide educational trend in the 90s was the

creation of Middle Schools to cater for that time

between Primary and Senior High School. The

amalgamation with Boroko East in 1994 to create

a K-12 school led to three discrete sections, each

with its own Head. Dianne Korare was the Head

of the High School from 1995 to 1999.

The IEA had been instrumental in the process.

Prior to 1994 Boroko East had been investigating

the creation of a Grade 7-8 Program as an

alternative to POMHI. The IEA stepped in with

the plan to merge the schools. Unfortunately this

happened just at the time that the Kina was 

devalued and a huge shift occurred in the 

demographics of the Port Moresby expatriate

population, leading to declining enrolments.

 

1995 saw the introduction of our new logo, replacing

the very European crest and Latin tag with a

Lakatoi. This symbolizes the trade between the different

cultures represented at POMIS.

The Pre-school to Year 12 school had three

different Heads as well as a Principal. The

Principal acted as the overall Leader of the

school but the day to day running was under the

control of the different Heads. Ms Dianne Korare

was effectively the Head of the High School, 

9-12, from 1995 to 1999 when the school

returned to being a separate entity. 
 

The histories of Boroko East and Port Moresby 

International Schools are linked together, not just

as neighbours.

 

2000 ON…

 

 

2000 and POMIS is a separate entity again. The

IEA split the Pre-school to Grade 12 school into

two parts. Boroko East; Pre-school to Grade 8;

and Port Moresby International School, Grades

9-12.
 

Ms Sue Hinchcliffe was the Principal of the newly

reformed High School and set about focusing on

the major examinations for Papua New Guinea

and the International Programs.
 

The new millennium, which started in 2001, was

a time of rebuilding for POMIS as the PNG

student population  increased from 50% to

becoming the vast majority.

The majority of teachers were Papua New Guinean

during this period as the IEA increased its commitment to

providing quality education for both students and

teachers.

 

Mr Steven Rowley has been Principal of the school since 2013

and has overseen perhaps the greatest changes to the school;

Increased building programs, Covid, and the introduction of
digital learning.

 

This is our history, so far.