Our Impact

Wellbeing is an increasingly significant issue for teenagers and schools across Aotearoa. To better understand and respond to the needs of students, Wakatipu High School has implemented GoodSpace - a digital screening tool that monitors student wellbeing. This youth-friendly and secure online survey is built on an evidence-based framework, enabling the school to identify students who may need additional or targeted support.

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WHS is deeply committed to supporting the wellbeing of every student, investing in a dedicated team of trained counsellors and a Wellbeing Coordinator - providing levels of support well above what is funded by the Ministry of Education.

WHS Foundation partially funds the Graeme Dingle Foundation Stars Programme at WHS. The Stars programme uses the teina/tuakana mentoring model and achieves positive and measurable results, including increased academic engagement and achievement for junior and senior students. Stars makes the transition into high school a more positive experience for Year 9 students whilst providing leadership and citizenship development opportunities for senior students. Stars involves matching trained Year 12 and 13 students as mentors to their Year 9 counterparts and has four components (adventure camp, peer mentoring, community adventure and a community project).

Visit the Stars Programme >

Āwhina means to help or support, and the Āwhinai Fund is an integral feature of Wakatipu High School. The Awhi Fund ensures financial barriers do not constrain a student’s participation in school-related activities or access to valuable resources. Support may be for uniforms, school fees, camps and trips, education assessments and extra curricular activities and allows all WHS students to Reach for their Heights.

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Learn more >

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Outward Bound aims to help people reach their full potential through challenge in the outdoors. It is through our valued partner Colliers International Queenstown, that WHS Foundation is able to send the Head Girl and Head Boy to develop their leadership capabilities through an Outward Bound course each year.

Developing our leadership capability at senior and middle leader levels is an investment back into our educators so WHS can continue to deliver on the vision of delivering a great all-round education.

This enables WHS to support students undergoing some challenges to continue their education and hold classes offsite.

• Scholarship Classes

• Staff ILE visits

• Kapa Haka Uniforms (2018)

• Sports Uniforms (2017)

• Sports Coordinator Role (2014, 2015 & 2016)

• Arts Coordinator Role (2014, 2015 & 2016)

• Learning Advisor Coordinator (2014 & 2015)

• Staff Leadership (2015)

• e-Learning & Modern Learning Environment Development (2015)

• Visible Learning Programme (2014)

WHS offers a range of extra and co-curricular activities for students to grow and develop holistically, whether it be through sport, arts and culture, leadership or the outdoors. These opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the teachers and support staff who, along with members of the community offer their expertise and time working with students. 

With the WHS Foundations' support,  those who offer their commitment for the benefit of the students are able to be acknowledged and thanked for supporting the schools vision of delivering New Zealand’s best all-round education and aiding the students growth and development. ​
 

A new position to WHS in 2020, the focus of this role is to strategically grow and develop both participation and high performance pathways in sport - integral in supporting our goals of a successful and outstanding all-round education.  

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Funding of the Director of Sport position has injected badly needed resources into supporting and growing the secondary school sports scene. The additional time, capacity and expertise in this area has helped to increase participation rates; provide quality sporting experiences for students; support coaches; create sustainable organisational structures for sports codes and develop a vision for sport and active recreation at WHS. Ultimately, the funding is providing WHS students with greater engagement and enjoyment in sport.

The WHS Foundation pays for one Teacher Aide. Teacher Aides are an essential resource in secondary schools. In order to support students to access the curriculum and effectively engage in teaching and learning programmes, more teacher aide support is required above what the school receives in funding. 

This additional resource is invaluable in being able to support a growing number of students identified as having special educational needs (including highly complex and challenging behavioural needs). The increase is attributable to the growth in the school roll, a change in philosophy and a better understanding of learning needs. The demand for T/A assistance is insatiable and we are unable to provide support that our students need. This goes some ways towards addressing this. 

WHS operates a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme allowing teachers to plan and deliver learning in a personalised and collaborative way and giving students the ability to be more engaged with their learning.  

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The BYOD Āwhina Fund ensures no students are disadvantaged by financial hardship by by giving students requiring financial support a laptop that they are able to use during their time at WHS. Most of these laptops are fully funded.

NZQA is changing how students can do their NCEA exams – from hand-written papers, to online, using a device. This reflects the way students already interact with the world and their learning, helping prepare them for their next steps after school. This technology would ensures authenticity of school digital assessments 

Wakatipu High School has eight HoLA’s across Arts, English, Health & PE, Languages, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences and Technology.  With assistance through the WHS Foundation, HoLA’s are provided with extra release time above what they would normally be entitled to support them in leading their Learning Areas. This extra time is extremely valuable and has enabled the HoLAs to focus on preparing and organising for the new school environment, sharing of ideas, observations and professional learnings, while researching cross-curricular possibilities and focussing on course alignment.