[1] The Kaiapoi Borough Council first approached the government about establishing a school in the town in 1954.

[3] The Department of Education approved the purchase of the 20.5-acre (8.3 ha) site on Ohoka Road in September 1961.

[5] Like many New Zealand state secondary schools built in the 1970s, Kaiapoi High School was built to the S68 standard design, characterised by single-storey classroom blocks of masonry construction, low-pitched roofs with protruding clerestory windows, and internal open courtyards.

Kaiapoi High School serves the coastal Waimakariri District, including the towns of Kaiapoi, Woodend, Pegasus, Waikuku, and the surrounding rural area west to Swannanoa.

It also serves the rural northeastern part of Christchurch City as far south as the Styx River, including Kainga, Brooklands, Spencerville.