In their discussion of early initiatives in elementary education in New Zealand the educational historians have singled out the pioneering ventures of the early settlers of Nelson as being especially significant for the subsequent development of primary education in this country. Butchers avers that the Nelson School Society "instituted the first and in many respects the most successful systems of public schools in New Zealand and the one which, more than any other, served as a model for the national system of education adopted for the whole colony in 1877". Campbell credits the early settlers of Nelson with having evolved, in conditions of great difficulty, "a little school system that was ultimately to become an inspiration to the whole of New Zealand". The Cummings in their recently published history, while noting the shortcomings of the Nelson School Society's schools, have pointed out the "significant fact" that "the onus for maintaining and developing them was placed in the hands of the committee themselves".

In view of the historical importance attached to the schools of the early Nelson settlement it will be worthwhile to examine in some depth the circumstances and the manner of this early educational development from the time of the arrival of the first settlers to the early years of the provincial era when the provincial government took over the elementary public schools. In order to appraise the extent and nature of community involvement in the organisation of elementary education during this period it will be necessary to take account of the role of the church schools and private venture schools as well as the schools of the Nelson School Society. Some attention must be paid too, to the condition of elementary education in Britain of the early 1840s from which the settlers came and to the social background of those engaged in the advancement of education in Nelson. How important, for instance, was the part played by such well educated leading personages as Fox, Dillon and Domett and how much of the development can be attributed to the spontaneous efforts of the rank and file of the community?

A good deal has already been written about the early Nelson schools and reference will be made to these writings from time to time.