Senior School
As your daughter enters the Senior School we help prepare her to be capable, caring, confident and ready to embrace life’s opportunities and challenges. At St Cuthbert’s she will be encouraged to persevere, discover her unique strengths and passions, and gain the confidence to reach her full potential.
She will be noticed, nurtured and where needed, supported or extended. We want her to leave our care with self-confidence, wonderful memories, lifelong friendships, and the tools to succeed.
Being an individual
Right throughout St Cuthbert’s, your daughter is recognised as a unique individual. By genuinely getting to know each one of our girls and really paying attention to what’s going on for them, we can provide what they need to feel happy and secure. Regardless of ability or experience, your daughter will have the opportunity to discover what she loves. Find out more here.
Being a team player
Your daughter’s journey through the Senior School is a time of developing character, resilience, confidence and independence. Our girls tell us that one of their most defining experiences is their month-long Kahunui experience. In Year 10 they head to our remote Kahunui Campus in the Bay of Plenty, completely unplugged from all devices. They’re immersed in a very different environment where physical and social experiences give them strategies for life. Click here for more.
Being a global citizen
Girls are taught what it means to be a global citizen, seeing the importance of giving back. Students come to understand the world, recognise their place within that world, and take a leadership role to create a community that collaborates, connects, and respects differences. Global Citizenship is not a subject to be learned, rather it’s a way of thinking and approaching life. It embodies our motto: ‘By Love Serve’ and equips students with knowledge, skills and values to participate as responsible, active citizens.
Being in the best place
Our experience tells us girls do best when they have a dedicated Homeroom or Tutor Group Teacher, right up until Year 13.
Our Year 7 Homeroom model gives girls the support they need to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. Year 7 girls learn core subjects with their dedicated Homeroom Teacher. In advance of starting, new students are carefully buddied with girls who attended our Junior School, so every girl knows at least one other girl from the start. St Cuthbert’s Homeroom model builds a rapport between girls, gradually allows each girl to become accustomed to their new school.
Vertical Tutor Groups are introduced from Year 8, which provide girls with a dedicated Tutor Teacher throughout their time in Senior School. Girls meet twice a week in a relaxed atmosphere, through this, students mix with girls from all year levels in the Senior School fostering multi-year friendships, relationships of trust and leadership. This Senior School structure is unique to St Cuthbert’s, and we believe provides invaluable peer role modelling, and big sister, little sister relationships.
Being recognised
We know that by Year 11 our girls are becoming independent and confident young women, and should be regarded as such. This is why we recognise these students in our separate Senior Academy programme. Students in Years 11-13 are provided increased responsibilities, privileges and a uniform that distinguishes them as leaders of the school.
It is our privilege to be part of your daughter’s journey. We welcome you to come and visit the Senior School and experience this for yourself.
Suzanne Winthrop
Head of Senior School and Deputy Principal