Learning Areas & Subjects

Wellington College values and provides opportunities in all Learning Areas of the New Zealand Curriculum. We aim to provide authentic community-focused learning that is culturally responsive, relational and adaptive. Students will make choices and decisions about their learning, while developing the critical thinking skills and capabilities that young people need for growing, working, and participating in their communities. The Wellington College curriculum is underpinned by tradition and a sense of belonging, while actively embracing the opportunity to innovate and grow.

“Developing every person’s potential: This may be the most important dimension of the 21st century view of personalising learning. The goal is not simply to find better ways to raise everyone’s “achievement” to an identical level or standard, but rather to support every person to develop their full potential.”

From Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Author(s): Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert, with Sue McDowall, Ally Bull, Sally Boyd and Rosemary Hipkins, NZCER. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Date Published: June 2012.

Our Learning Areas are:

The Learning Area of Careers and Pathways includes the following subjects:

  • Pathways

The Learning Area of English includes the following subjects:

  • English
  • English with Philosophy
  • Integrated Studies
  • Media Studies

The Learning Area of Health and Physical Education includes the following subjects:

  • Health
  • Physical Education
  • Experiential PE
  • Sports Academy

The Learning Area of Languages includes the following subjects:

  • Chinese
  • English Language (ESOL)
  • French
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
  • Samoan

The Learning Area of Mathematics includes the following subjects:

  • Ako
  • Integrated Studies

The Learning Area of Mathematics includes the following subjects:

  • Mathematics
  • Statistics
  • Calculus
  • Cambridge Mathematics

The Learning Area of Science includes the following subjects:

  • Science
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Biology
  • Space and Rocket Science

The Learning Area of Social Sciences includes the following subjects:

  • History of Aotearoa
  • Geography
  • Classical Studies
  • History
  • Politics
  • Commerce
  • Business Studies
  • Accounting

The Learning Area of Māori includes the following subjects:

  • Te Reo Māori
  • Māori Performing Arts

The Arts Learning Area includes the following subjects:

  • Music
  • Making Music
  • Music Technology
  • Drama
  • Performing Arts
  • Visual Art
  • Visual Art – Painting
  • Visual Art – Design
  • Visual Art – Photography
  • Visual Art – Printmaking
  • Art History

The Technology Learning Area includes the following subjects:

  • Technology
  • Materials Technology
  • Design and Visual Communication
  • Digital Technology Game Development
  • Digital Technology Science
  • Construction

Careers & Pathways

Ko te kai rapu, ka ia te kite – He/She who seeks will find

The Pathways course endeavours to give learners the opportunity to develop their Career Management competencies, knowing what their interests, skills and strengths are and then exploring opportunities in the world of work and further tertiary study to find the right fit.

Health and Physical Education / Hauora

He oranga ngākau, he pikinga waiora.

In Health and Physical Education, the focus is on the well-being of the students themselves, of other people, and of society through learning in health-related and movement contexts- New Zealand Curriculum

At Wellington College, Health and Physical Education is partially integrated.  All Year 9 and Year 10 students experience practical and theory lessons that support them to “acquire a lifelong passion for learning” whilst developing their capacity to “become productive citizens”.  Students are taught that all dimensions of their well-being – Taha Tinana (Physical),Taha Whānau (Social), Taha Hinengaro (Mental/Emotional), Taha Wairua (Spiritual), Taha Whenua (Connection to the Land) – are important in achieving this vision.  Through participating in this programme students will be better equipped to not only enhance their own well-being, but that of others around them.  The key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum (Thinking; Relating to Others; Using Lanugage, Symbols and Text; Participating and Contributing; Managing Self) are embedded in all that we do.  Students will be engaged in learning around topics including, but not limited to: mental health; sexuality education (including consent, promoting positive sexuality, safe sexual practices, and body images in media); personal care and hygiene; resiliency; assertiveness and decision making in situations involving drugs and alcohol; physical development; and promoting healthy active lifestyles.  Units and lessons are developed that are responsive to students’ ever changing needs and are reflective of our core values of Community, Oranga, Learning Together and Leadership.  All Wellington College health education is values based, in that the values, beliefs, and attitudes of each individual student are upheld in how we teach and learn. In addition to the compulsory Junior Health Curriculum, all students are presented with the opportunity to engage with Health studies in the Senior school, currently with opportunities to engage in full year level content in Years 11-13.  No compulsory Health curriculum is taught beyond Year 10.

If you have any queries about the Health curriculum, please contact the HOD Junior Health and Physical Education:  Nathan Frew n.frew@wc.school.nz

Any whānau/caregivers wanting to have their child excluded from any particular element of sexuality education in the health education programme may write to the Headmaster requesting exclusion.  In such cases, self-guided alternative health education will be provided.

English / Te Reo Pākehā

Ko te reo te tuakiri. Ko te reo tōku ahurei. Ko te reo te ora.

English is the study, use, and enjoyment of the English language and its literature, communicated orally, visually, and in writing, for a range of purposes and audiences and in a variety of text forms. Learning English encompasses learning the language, learning through the language, and learning about the language. – New Zealand Curriculum

Mathematics / Pāngarau

Kei hopu tōu ringa ki te aka tāepa, engari kia mau ki te aka matua.

Mathematics is the exploration and use of patterns and relationships in quantities, space, and time. Statistics is the exploration and use of patterns and relationships in data. These two disciplines are related but different ways of thinking and of solving problems. Both equip students with effective means for investigating, interpreting, explaining, and making sense of the world in which they live – New Zealand Curriculum

Science / Pūtaiao

Mā te whakaaro nui e hanga te whare; mā te mātauranga e whakaū

Science is a way of investigating, understanding, and explaining our natural, physical world and the wider universe. It involves generating and testing ideas, gathering evidence – including by making observations, carrying out investigations and modelling, and communicating and debating with others – in order to develop scientific knowledge, understanding, and explanations. – New Zealand Curriculum

Social Sciences / Pūtaiao Pāpori

Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō Whakatairangitia – rere ki uta, rere ki tai;
Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao,Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

The social sciences learning area is about how societies work and how people can participate as critical, active, informed, and responsible citizens. Contexts are drawn from the past, present, and future and from places within and beyond New Zealand. – New Zealand Curriculum

Te Reo Māori

Ko tōu reo, ko tōku reo, te tuakiri tangata. Tīhei uriuri, tīhei nakonako.

Learning a new language provides a means of communicating with people from another culture and exploring one’s own personal world. Languages and cultures play a key role in developing our personal, group, national, and human identities. Every language has its own ways of expressing meanings; each has intrinsic value and special significance for its users. – New Zealand Curriculum

Technology / Hangarau

Kaua e rangiruatia te hāpai o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.

Technology is intervention by design. It uses intellectual and practical resources to create technological outcomes, which expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities. Effective and ethical design respects the unique relationship that New Zealanders have with their physical environment and embraces the significance of Māori culture and world views in its practice and innovation. – New Zealand Curriculum

Wellington College

The Arts / Ngā Toi

Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.

The arts are powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealanders. The arts have their own distinct languages that use both verbal and non-verbal conventions, mediated by selected processes and technologies. Through movement, sound, and image, the arts transform people’s creative ideas into expressive works that communicate layered meanings. – New Zealand Curriculum

Languages / Ngā Reo

Ko tōu reo, ko tōku reo, te tuakiri tangata. Tīhei uriuri, tīhei nakonako.

Learning a new language provides a means of communicating with people from another culture and exploring one’s own personal world. Languages and cultures play a key role in developing our personal, group, national, and human identities. Every language has its own ways of expressing meanings; each has intrinsic value and special significance for its users. – New Zealand Curriculum

Wellington College