Yesterday's arrival of 220 new year 9 pupils is down on the 250 the school attracted last year, but the exit of a small cohort of year 13 pupils last year has meant the school's overall roll has increased again, to 1050 - up from the 1008 posted in the school's March roll return.
The school has grown from 722 in 2009 to become the largest school in Otago.
Principal Dan Reddiex was delighted with the continuing growth of the school which he put down to a focus on values education and the great culture where ''the boys know that they belong and they feel cared about''.
''And, obviously, the academic results, which continue to improve,'' he said.
Despite now being the largest school in Otago, the school was not bulging at the seams, and there was not yet a need to cap the roll, Mr Reddiex said.
The greatest impact of having extra pupils at the school was that it attracted extra Ministry of Education funding for resources, he said.
As a result, the school was now able to offer, for the first time, stand-alone New Zealand Scholarship classes for science and maths.
The school is aware the roll growth will not last forever, and in a bid to prepare for the eventual lull in pupil numbers, the school is investigating re-establishing its boarding hostel.
However, Mr Reddiex said it was still too early to say if re-establishing a hostel was realistic.
