Mount Aspiring College is a state

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Wānaka Wānaka () is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, it is at the start of the Clutha River and is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. Wānaka ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1986 after the division of Wānaka Area School into separate primary and secondary schools. The college, though normally a

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

, operates a hostel beside the school grounds for 30 Year 13 students.

Enrolment

Mount Aspiring College is naturally zoned by the school's isolation (the nearest alternative secondary school is Cromwell College, 55 kilometres away in

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

), therefore does not need to operate an enrolment scheme. The school's effective service area extends north to

Makarora Makarora is a small community within the Queenstown-Lakes District of the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on on the eastern side of the Haast Pass and adjacent to the Makarora River. Local tourism operators of ...

, east to

Tarras Tarras is a small farming settlement in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. Tarras is located on the slopes above the upper reaches of the Clutha Valley, on State Highway 8. It is the first village reached by travellers heading ...

and Queensberry, south to Cardrona, and west to the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...

. At the August 2015

Education Review Office The Education Review Office (ERO; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with reviewing and publicly reporting on the quality of education and care of students in all New Zealand schools and early childhood services. Leader ...

(ERO) review of the school, the school had 789 students enrolled. The school roll's gender composition was 51% male and 49% female. The ethnic composition was 88%

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

(Pākehā), 7%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, 3% Asian, and 2% Other. At the September 2019

(ERO) review of the school, the school had 1078 students enrolled, including 32

international student International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

s. The ERO report found As of , Mount Aspiring College has roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , Mount Aspiring College has an

Equity Index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...

of , placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 8 and 9 under the former

socio-economic decile In the education in New Zealand, New Zealand education system, decile was a key measure of socioeconomic status used to target funding and support schools. In academic contexts the full term "socioeconomic decile" or "socioeconomic decile band" wa ...

system).

Principals

* 1989–1998: Michael (Mike) Allison * 1998–2008: Maurice (Maurie) Jackways * 2008–2020: Wayne Bosley * 2020–2021: Dean Sheppard (acting) * 2021–present: Nicola Jacobsen

Hostel Program

The College operates a year 13 boarding programme and intakes 30 students each year, the programme is notable for its intensive outdoor pursuits program, which runs alongside daily time-tabled classes. The Mount Aspiring College Village consists of five custom-built flats, constructed in 1996. Each flat is named after notable landmarks in the local area; Arawhata- named after

Arawhata River The Arawhata River (often spelt with the Ngāi Tahu Māori dialect spelling ''Arawata River'') is in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. The river has its headwaters in the Mount Aspiring National Park. It drains the we ...

, Avalanche- named after Avalanche Peak (New Zealand), Cascade- named after Cascade Saddle (Located in

Mount Aspiring National Park Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, north of Fiordland National Park, situated in Otago and Westland regions. The park forms part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. History Moun ...

), Liverpool- named after Liverpool Hut, and Rob Roy- named after

Rob Roy Glacier The Rob Roy Glacier is a small hanging glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand's South Island. It is located within the Mount Aspiring National Park, south of Mount Aspiring / Tititea. The glacier covers the steep slopes of the mountains ...

Notable alumni

Ellesse Andrews Ellesse Mote Andrews (born 31 December 1999) is a New Zealand racing cyclist. She represented New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she gained a silver medal in the keirin. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, ...

(born 1999), Olympic track cyclist *

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott Zoi Katherine Sadowski-Synnott (, born 6 March 2001) is a New Zealand Snowboarding, snowboarder, specialising in slopestyle and big air competitions. She won the gold medal in the Snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Women's slopestyle, ...

(born 2001), Olympic snowboarder *

Campbell Wright Campbell McRae Wright (born 25 May 2002) is a New Zealand and American Biathlon, biathlete. He made his Biathlon World Cup debut in 2021 and represented New Zealand at the Winter Olympics, New Zealand at the 2022 Winter Olympics, 2022 Winter Oly ...

(born 2002),

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...

medallist * Paul Wright (born 1998), racing cyclist and New Zealand National Road Race Champion

References

External links