Murchison Area School 

Principal’s Message:

At Murchison Area School we are committed to providing the very best education that we can for our students in a strong, caring environment.

The benefit of attending our area school allows our students access to wider areas of the curriculum and resources onsite and with specialist staff in all areas of the curriculum. We are very well resourced with modern facilities including a heated indoor swimming pool, the use of a magnificent sports stadium and a very strong Learning Support Area to provide inclusive and equitable education to all. We provide a chrome book, i-pad or lap-top to every student in the school for their day to day learning.

Pastoral care at our school is paramount to enabling students to develop academically, physically, socially and personally. We place a high value on the following areas.

Healthy Relationships, Raising Achievement, Personal Growth.

The school recognises the unique nature of our area in terms of life style, tourism and friendliness. We are able to offer a variety of learning opportunities which cater for the needs of all students from Year 0 to Year 13.

Our Primary syndicate has small class sizes and a low teacher/pupil ratio, currently 15. This allows us to have great relationships and focus upon raising achievement for all our students. We employ highly qualified and experienced staff who place a high value on education and the wider, whole person. Academic achievement in our whole school is excellent and extremely high in our Primary syndicates.

Secondary students have the opportunity to study a wide range of subjects with Specialist staff within school and we also utilise strong Distance Learning Options such as Te Kura, Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) and many other providers. This allows us to provide all the courses and subjects required by our students for whichever pathway they may wish to embark on. We have very strong academic results enabling our students to move onto Tertiary education at University, Polytechnic or into the field of employment. The school also works closely with the our local community to place students in work experience and Gateway Placements. We  also place students in the Top of the South Island Trade Academies, therefore allowing our students to work in a Tertiary field whilst still being at school.

We are proud of the achievements of our young people. Murchison students can stand tall when they leave our school, knowing that they have been given every opportunity to succeed in what ever pathway they have chosen and flourish in.

Andy Ashworth

Principal