Principal's Welcome

We have a beautiful, modern learning environment looking out over the Porirua basin. Classrooms are clustered around central learning spaces in our five learning houses: Kenepuru, Mahinawa, Rangituhi, Tangare and Whitireia. Students join one house for their time at college, where they learn to take care of our environment, connect with our community, give back to others and manage their learning.

Student leadership is important in developing responsible young adults who have the courage to have their say. Each house has prefects who support the younger students and organise activities for them. Leadership training is run in Year 12 and 13, including leadership skills and events organisation. Our head students and prefects have opportunities to represent the school at many important occasions, such as Anzac Day and other local events.

We know that many students coming to Porirua College have already stepped up as leaders in their previous schools and want to give back their learning to others. We invite all students to join one of our leadership councils to make changes in our PC world, our Porirua East community and beyond:

• Cultural Council
• Events Council
• Service Council
• Sports Council

Porirua College students stay at school to achieve their academic pathways to the future. We aim for almost all ākonga to pass NCEA level 2 as a minimum and most choose to stay on for Year 13. Some also take university entrance subjects, so that they can go on to degrees at university or polytechnic.

In consultation with families and students, we develop new courses in student interest areas to engage them in learning for their future. Since 2020 our ākonga have had a choice of innovative, cross year level courses as part of their regular timetable. Students learn within and beyond the classroom. We design practical, real world learning experiences, from creating a mountain bike to running a business in Enterprise. We offer culturally based language learning: Te Reo Māori, Samoan, Tokelauan, Exploring Language and Culture and Māori Performing Arts. Ākonga can prepare for the world beyond school by taking Fitness, High Performance Academy, Going Outdoors, Sports Leadership, Gateway or Planning for your Future.

We cover the core subjects of English, Maths, Science, PE/Health and Social Studies, with a real focus on the new NZ/Aotearoa Histories curriculum. There are also a wide range of options available. You can see our variety of subject and course pathways at the back of this prospectus. We use a range of online platforms, such as Google Classroom and Education Perfect. Monday to Thursday we offer a homework club in the library until 5.00pm with computers and staff to support ākonga to become independent learners.

Our committed staff work closely with students to track and improve their learning, based on goal setting with families at the start of the year and a mid year follow up. Our Personalised Learning faculty works with ākonga who need extra support, whether that is to do Spanish through Te Kura Correspondence School or extra reading, writing and maths. We organise and fundraise for class trips, within New Zealand and overseas, to improve learning. Senior students have opportunities to attend outside courses while at school and most of them progress to further education when they leave.

Much of the richness of Porirua College comes from the variety of our students’ cultural backgrounds. They know their roots and bring their values, beliefs and languages with them to our classrooms where we create learning experiences to build on this. Our ākonga have PC pride and respect everyone’s beliefs. We have many occasions during the year that celebrate our different cultures and our togetherness, from language weeks to Colours Day at the end of Term 1 when ākonga all show their house pride.

We are well known as a whānau school, where teachers and senior rangatahi in our houses take care of the younger ones. At the start of Year 9 we have noho marae for each house when ākonga get to know each other and the local area their house is named for. In the evening, families are invited to share a meal with ākonga, kaiako and kaiawhina to get to know the adults who will help your rangatahi grow over the next five years.

To keep our ākonga healthy in their wellbeing, we have counsellors, a social worker, youth workers, attendance kaiāwhina, nurses and regular doctor visits. Thanks to the Ministry of Education, we have healthy free school lunches, as well as breakfast clubs, in our houses. We also run programmes with outside partners:

• Boxing Gym – programmes for PC boys and girls
• Ignite Sports – personal development, sports and leadership activities for all year groups
• Stars – leadership training programme for seniors to work with younger students

We have a proud history of commitment to restorative practice. When students need to sort out their relationships with each other or teachers, our staff are there to help them restore everyone’s mana. We work together with ākonga through our learning coach system to develop positive relationships and solve problems collaboratively.