St John's Girls' School (Invercargill)

Key facts

About St John's Girls' School (Invercargill)

St John's Girls' School is an integrated state school for girls, located in central Invercargill (Waihopai). It was established in 1917 by the St John's Anglican Church. Following the Depression, the Church withdrew its support and an independent board was formed. The school became an integrated school in 1990, at which point its Christian character was formalised through a Deed of Integration.

The school is interdenominational and Christian in character. A daily assembly includes a reading and prayer, and the school holds annual Easter and Carol Services. The roll is capped at 150 students, and an enrolment scheme is in place. The School Board employs additional staff beyond its entitlement, including a part-time professional dance teacher, a Christian Education teacher, and a classroom teacher.

The school's values are represented by the acronym KIPRRR: Kindness, Integrity, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility, and Resilience. These are embodied in a role-model figure named KIPRRR, who appears throughout the school alongside characters named Awhina and Aroha.

The curriculum follows the New Zealand Curriculum and places particular emphasis on literacy, numeracy, and the arts — including speech, drama, dance, visual art, and music. Te Reo Māori and tikanga are integrated into the programme. The school's special character, as set out in the 1990 Deed of Integration, also requires compulsory uniform, active parental participation, and a full range of extracurricular activities.

Enrolment

St John's Girls' School operates under an enrolment scheme with a roll cap of 150 students. Families apply by submitting an Application for Admission, after which the applicant's name is added to a waiting list organised by year level and date of application.

Applications are assessed against the following priority order:

• Siblings of current students
• In-zone applications
• Out-of-zone applications

Preference status, which is considered before non-preference applications within each category, requires a Christian affiliation. The school's zone boundaries are defined in its Enrolment Scheme.

Places are offered as they become available, either immediately or during the year. Families on the waiting list are contacted by email in the year prior to the proposed enrolment year to confirm their daughter's status.

Accepted new entrants receive a pre-enrolment visit arranged by the new entrant teacher approximately one month before starting. Students joining at other year levels are invited to a familiarisation morning held in November.

Visit requests can be directed to Principal Holly Bradshaw by email or phone.

Curriculum

St John's Girls' School uses a cross-curricular model in which subjects are linked together through shared themes rather than taught in isolation. Core learning in literacy, numeracy, and inquiry (covering science, social science, health, and technology) takes place in homeroom classes. Literacy skills are reinforced across all subject areas, with explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy particularly in the junior school.

Specialist teachers deliver the following subjects to each class:

• Dance
• Speech and drama
• Music
• Art
• Christian Education
• Physical education

The specialist programme generally runs in the afternoons. Years 5–8 receive lessons in Food and Material Technology, and senior students have regular foreign language lessons. As part of the music programme, students learn the basics of three instruments over their time at the school. Years 3–8 undertake a weekly speech and drama programme that includes an oral assessment examination, and sit a dance examination as part of the dance programme.

Competitive and extension activities include the University Maths Problem Challenge, the Invercargill Schools' Speech Competition, science fair, the Kids Lit Quiz, and the Smac maths team competition. Maths and science badges are also available.

Years 5–8 attend an annual outdoor camp. Years 5 and 6 go to Camp Columba, Year 7 undertakes a three-night camp on Stewart Island, and Year 8 attends a four-night camp at Deep Cove in Fiordland National Park.