Boys with a wide range of abilities are welcome at College. There is consistent emphasis on ambition and achievement at all levels and our student outcomes are among the best in New Zealand.

We nurture the ambitions of some of the brightest scholars in the land while taking equal pleasure in the outstanding progress made by those who benefit from our Learning Centre. The boys respect each other’s commitment, whether within or outside the classroom. Our diversity is a key to our success.

The Learning Centre

Our Learning Centre encapsulates a unique and valuable support resource at Christ’s College. We know that some boys learn in a different way and require extra help. The Learning Centre provides a safe learning environment and a more personalised programme, enabling every boy to grow. It develops individual learning profiles for students, sharing information with classroom teachers to support ongoing success.

When a family joins College, we meet and discuss specific learning requirements. We ensure additional testing of literacy and numeracy skills for all Year 9 broad-banded classes, or new boys to the school in older years, at the start of the year to collect as much information as possible about our students. Teachers then have the information to enable a more personalised learning programme, so each boy is able to achieve at his best.

The Learning Centre is staffed by five full-time teachers who specialise in assisting students with developing literacy and numeracy skills. They offer the following support:

  • Literacy and learning support for students at all year levels
  • Numeracy support for students at all year levels
  • Individual and small group learning on a weekly basis
  • Specialist classes in Years 9 and 10 for literacy skills
  • ESL tuition

Learning support sessions can focus on general literacy and numeracy skills or address needs relating to work in class and assessments from various subjects. They are not limited to English or Mathematics but are applied to any subject that can benefit from help.

In addition to specific student sessions, The Learning Centre oversees special assistance for students with diagnosed learning differences. If a student needs diagnostic testing, boys have access to Lucid testing. A specialist software, Lucid can be a first step to extra help for formal assessments. Staff also work with an educational psychologist, who visits College to assess students when a more in-depth profile is required.

The Learning Centre is further supported by a specialist administrator for reader/writers for NCEA assessments. All necessary resources are utilised to ensure every student has an equal opportunity to succeed in a way that reflects the best of his ability.

Advanced Learning

Academic engagement and advancement drives high achievement at Christ’s College. By enhancing boys’ social and emotional learning through Advanced Learning, students strive to achieve – and this is borne out by our academic results.

Our students consistently outperform boys from other decile 8–10 schools, achieving well beyond national averages in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and gaining a remarkable rate of Merit or Excellence endorsements. Our Excellence endorsements are about double the overall rate nationwide.

Our boys are also among the highest achievers in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) Scholarship across all subjects, including being ranked among individual Premier Award, Outstanding Scholar and Top Subject Scholar winners.

Much of this success is powered by our commitment to advanced learning through our tailored enrichment programmes, culminating in opportunities such as the Biology Olympiad, the Ethics Olympiad, the Informatics Olympiad and the Maths Olympiad, along with several high-level maths competitions, the Brain Bee neuroscience competition and the Young Physicists’ Tournament.

There are also multiple opportunities for boys in the Model UN programme dealing with real-world issues, extension coding and programming, and advanced history, literature and language competitions.

Achievements in 2021

We are proud of all our boys' achievements this year.

  • New Zealand’s International Olympiad Informatics team – Bruce Chen
  • Spelling Bee – Aaron Kwak placed 14 out of 100
  • Brain Bee neuroscience quiz – Josh Hooker through to second round
  • International Ethics Olympiad finals – highly commended (George Gearry, Josh Jolly, Jeremy Kinley and Freddie Sudell)
  • EPro8 Technology competition – regional final