Secondary School at St Peter's

St Peter’s, Cambridge is one of New Zealand’s leading independent schools. Choosing St Peter’s for secondary school gives your child an unparalleled range of opportunities to excel in academics, sports and the arts.

We are a co-educational school for both day and boarding students. Our school has approximately 1000 students and just over 400 of them live on site, making St Peter’s the largest co-educational boarding school in New Zealand. Our students come from all around New Zealand and all over the world. Your child will enjoy being part of our diverse student community, making life-long friends, and developing social skills that make life fun and promote success.

St Peter’s has a holistic approach to education — body, mind and spirit. This has been the St Peter’s way of educating since our founding in 1936. Every aspect of St Peter’s, including our world-class facilities, is designed to nurture the whole person so that your child feels happy, valued, and eager to learn.

We have an exciting range of academic options throughout our secondary school, culminating in a choice of qualifications — either the National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) or the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB), an internationally recognised diploma that opens doors to many universities around the world. This dual pathway caters for different approaches to learning and both pathways enjoy impressive results.

At St Peter’s, your child will benefit from some of the most talented teachers in the country. Our teachers create teaching and learning environments that are engaging, innovative and, most importantly, tailored to the needs of our students. Our teachers are willing not only to meet the needs of our students, but often go above and beyond. We offer a school culture that inspires our students to be the best people they can be, to aspire to excellence, and to fulfil all their potential.

Our students feel safe, fully supported, and able to learn in small classes. Class sizes at St Peter’s are kept to a maximum of 25 students wherever possible. Our average class size is 14, and many classes are significantly smaller. All our students are able to engage with their teachers one-on-one, giving them every opportunity to succeed in every course. At St Peter’s we cater for students of all abilities. Whether in academics, sports or arts we help our students to exceed their own expectations of themselves and aim for excellence.

Our pastoral care network is extensive. Our house directors, deans, psychologists, careers advisors, tutor group leaders, nurses, and chaplain all provide support for our students. In addition, every student is in a tutor group led by a teacher who provides one-on-one mentoring and support for their learning.

If you are moving into the area or considering a change of school, we work closely with you and your child. Our Deputy Principal of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum is happy to meet with you and advise on subject choices so that your child’s transition to St Peter’s is as smooth as possible.