Intermediate (Year 7/8) at St Anthony’s

Our School

At St Anthony’s your child will experience co-education and forge life-long friendships. Within a safe and nurturing environment, your child will have the support to grow and develop their independence and resilience to cope in an ever-changing world.

With a team of highly experienced teachers who have a diverse range of skills, your child will be guided through their EQ, IQ and DQ development. Our focus is to develop and prepare students for the robust life of college. We give our students the skills to take ownership of their learning, to know their strengths and be able to control their weaknesses. Our lessons are not just simply ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ but instead challenge the students to develop the broader skills needed to ensure they find and harness their learning pathway and set them up for the future. Our innovative learning space allows our students a host of opportunities and makes St Anthony’s an exciting and flexible school to be part of.

Our Learning Ethos

Art is an integral part of our learning culture, both in the traditional and modern sense. Students are guided by an art specialist to develop creative responses to learning, exploring various mediums to achieve this. Musical talent is nurtured and developed and we offer a range of occasions for performance. Languages are also important. Te Reo is supported through the likes of our Kapa Haka sessions. Digital challenges such as Tahi, Rua Toru Tech and DQ World provide creative thinking and opportunities to become a creative, responsible digital citizen. Creative thinking is also nurtured through core subjects like Science, where we explore a wide range of units as well as hold a Science Fair before sending our winners through to the Wellington NIWA Competition. At St Anthony’s we also understand the importance of oral skills so we provide learning opportunities through the likes of Theatre Sports and the oral language competition.

Education Outside the Classroom

We also believe that learning outside of the classroom is fundamental to developing well-rounded senior students. Our seniors attend technology at Mount Cook School every week, where they participate in Music, Food Technology, Digital Technology, Textiles Technology classes. We also have the opportunity to access resources within the CBD, such as Te Papa, the Wellington City Library, Art Gallery and the National War Memorial regularly in order to enhance units of work. Many workplaces and facilities are included in our CBD outings to ensure that our students’ understanding of the wider world is extended.

Our students experience a week-long school camp on a bi-yearly basis, at Teapot Valley Camp in Brighton, Nelson. Team building, as well as sports like archery, skiing, orienteering, a confidence course, abseiling and indoor climbing are only some of the activities that students will partake in.

Sport is another opportunity for students to learn outside of the classroom, with the school getting involved in many sports days at events such as Eastern Zones or Wellington Regional sports. It is always a great way to empower the less capable and learn teamwork and sportsmanship.

Faith and Learning

Faith is important at St Anthony’s and your child will be given the opportunity to explore, live and grow their own faith. We believe that the spiritual side of a person’s hauora plays a significant role in life and it is important to feed this, particularly in the challenging adolescent years as a child faces change, both in a physical and mental sense. Having the church on site allows the students the opportunity to engage with the wider community and grow with their faith.

As a small school with a strong spirit, every child has the chance to develop their leadership skills through a host of opportunities including house leader roles, environmental initiatives within the school, community initiatives such as Predator Free and Young Vinnies as well as fundraising for school camp. As the senior students, they act as the elder bothers and sisters to the younger children and enjoy the mana and respect of many. The success of these opportunities speak for themselves when you count the number of ex-students who have gone on to take up prefect roles in college or who have won significant sporting and academic awards.

As a Year 8, the students play a significant part in leading our school and this is acknowledged in the way we farewell our students with experiences like: Principal’s Day Out, leavers speeches and the very special tradition of the Leavers Dinner. These are just some of the highlights on our school calendar that ensure our senior students know that they are a graduate of St Anthony’s.

We may be a small school but with high expectations and a well-rounded education, we will challenge and support your child to be the best they can be.

Read here about what our parents have to say about the Intermediate at St Anthony’s