Our Vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand's best all-round education.
Wakatipu High School’s vision is for 'Aotearoa New Zealand’s best all-round education’. This aspirational vision challenges us to strive to deliver the very best possible opportunities and outcomes for all of our students each and every day.
Our ‘Ākonga Profile’ outlines what we want for our students in their time at WHS, and encapsulates the all-round nature of our vision. The Ākonga Profile includes not only every student gaining their best possible qualification, but essential competencies and knowledge, and holistic development as a young person - underpinned by our school values of excellence, responsibility, resilience, inclusion and respect.
Integral to the Ākonga Profile and our vision is student engagement, learning, progress and achievement, and our strong academic results are testament to our success in this area. Students are also supported to achieve in vocational pathways, which include our Trades Academy, Gateway and Central Otago Youth Employment programmes. In addition, we provide learning support in literacy and numeracy, and have a Gifted Education programme.
A key part of our all-round education is the wide range of extra and co-curricular opportunities that we offer, including sport, arts, music, culture, outdoors, community and leadership. From our Winter Sports Academy and rowing, to our jazz band, school musical, Kapa Haka group and Duke of Edinburgh programme, our students have an incredible range of opportunities in which to participate and excel, as well as to grow and develop as young people. Furthermore, the Wakatipu Basin and its unique environment enables us to offer our great outdoor education programmes.
Student engagement, wellbeing and resilience are also very important at WHS, and we work hard to support our students to ‘feel good and function well’, to enjoy coming to school, but also to understand that sometimes things are hard and that we need to build strategies for working through times of challenge. We have a comprehensive pastoral system, central to which are our five Houses - Arthur, Duncan, Fox, Hay and Mackenzie.
Our inter-house competition supports a great student culture in which students demonstrate pride in their school and their community.
With nearly 1550 students, our state of the art facilities, exceptional programmes for learning and passionate teachers coalesce to support students to achieve their potential and excel at a local, national and international level.
Well-governed and very generously supported by the WHS Foundation and Branches Trust, Wakatipu High School is well on its way to delivering Aotearoa New Zealand’s best all-round education. We welcome you to join us at our remarkable campus and to ‘reach for your heights’.
Mr Oded Nathan
Principal/Tumuaki