Waitaki Girls High School

Waitaki Girls High School offers you the opportunity to earn the qualifications you need for tertiary education in an established and highly respected girls' boarding school in the safe and beautiful town of Oamaru.

Waitaki Girls High School was founded in 1887 and has a proud history of providing education of the highest quality to young women. In fifteen years of offering education to international students, our graduates have enjoyed remarkable success scoring highly in IELTS & TOEFL and graduating as doctors, lawyers, hotel managers, nurses, dentists and so on. We invite you to join us at Waitaki Girls High School this year.

Location
Oamaru is a town of 13,500 known for its historic limestone buildings and the blue penguin colony which attract many tourists. Oamaru is a very safe town with adequate facilities including a hospital but without the distractions which detract from focussed learning. We are within easy reach of the lakes and mountains. Oamaru is three hours by road from Christchurch international airport. The school offers a pick-up service from the airport.

Facilities
School buildings are comfortable and very well maintained. The school has beautiful grounds and well established recreational facilities. Computers are placed in all classrooms in addition to three computer suits giving students access to e-mail and the internet.

Academic Programme
The school offers a full academic programme that includes languages (Japanese, German, Maori), all the sciences, Economics and Accounting and all the arts subjects including History, Geography, Classical Studies, Painting, Photography and Music. Also available are ICT (Information and Computing Technology), Tourism, Food Technology and Fabric and Design. We teach courses for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement at Years 11, 12 and 13 leading to University Entrance qualifications.

We also offer to international students English for Speakers and Other Languages preparing them for TOEFL or IELTS if appropriate.

Co-curricular Activities
The school offers a total of 51 cultural and sporting activities and encourages all students to participate. The school provides tuition in instrumental music and has an excellent choir and orchestra. Many of our international students participate in the International Club and also enjoy netball.

English Language Support
Students are assessed on arrival and placed in appropriate classes. The ESOL teacher offers individual and small group tuition in English, and support in learning other subjects. New students have weekly visits to experience life in the Oamaru community.

Accommodation
International students usually spend their first year in the school hostel so that the school can ensure that they adjust well to living in NZ. After one year in the hostel, students may choose to go to a homestay. This is organised by the Homestay Manager in line with the Code of Practice. Hostel students are also placed in approved homestay accommodation during school holidays.

Fees for 2006
Annual tuition fee $10,000
Homestay costs $7,600 per year
orHostel costs $7,300
Accommodation administration fee $ 500
(plus approximately $1,200 term holidays homestay)
Uniform$1,000
Activities fee $750

Please note: All students are required to show evidence of travel and medical insurance priorto arrival.