New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, an area school is a school that takes children from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

age (usually 4 or 5 years old) all the way through to tertiary entrance exams (at about age 18). They tend to be built in small towns where the cost of separate primary and secondary schools cannot be justified because there are too few pupils to have separate schools. These schools distinguish between primary and secondary stages internally but there is a single headteacher, faculty and administration. The New Zealand Area Schools Association (NZASA) is the organisation that represents the interests of area schools, and concerns itself with educational matters in rural areas.

References

Schools in Australia Education in New Zealand School types {{school-stub