Lelean Memorial School
| Lelean Memorial School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Nausori, Fiji | |
| Information | |
| Type | Co-Ed, Boarding & Day Students, Methodist Church |
| Motto | Seek Wisdom And Spiritual Understanding |
| Established | 1942 |
| Principal | Laisa Soko |
| Color(s) | Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, White |
| Website | LMS [1] |
Lelean Memorial School is one of the largest co-ed schools in Fiji. It was established in 1943 and is run by the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma. It is co-located at the Davuilevu Methodist Compound with the Davuilevu Theological College and the Young People's Department, which runs training for Methodist catechists.
Overlooking Fiji's largest river, the Rewa, the school gate faces the Rewa Bridge that was funded by the European Union and opened in 2006. Directly across the river is the village of Nausori and the old sugar town of the same name. The school roll for 2014 is 1600. Lelean Memorial School caters for students in the Tailevu, Naitasiri and Rewa provinces but it also accepts those who apply from other parts of Fiji.
In late 1942, the Pacific Campaign of World War II was at its peak and the Colonial Authority was issued a command that all urban schools should close and surrender their compounds for use as military camps for forces fighting the Japanese threat. At that time, William Ewart Donnelly, a missionary teacher from New Zealand, was principal of Toorak Boys’ School or the Suva Methodist Boys' School — renamed the Suva Methodist Primary School in the 1970s or 1980s. Donnelly served as a teacher and General Secretary of the Students’ Christian Movement in the early 1930s and early 1940s and remained principal of Lelean from 1943 to 1945, when he returned to New Zealand.
Other overseas teachers immediately left Fiji to await the end of the war elsewhere. But Donnelly, the determined missionary principal, sent a circular to all members of the senior classes of Classes Six, Seven, and Eight of Toorak Boys School, inviting volunteers to accompany him to continue their education. After consultation with the heads of the Methodist Church, he received permission to use the Principal’s residence at the Davuilevu Technical School, in Nausori.
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