Waitākere College is a state coeducational secondary school located in Henderson,

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, established in 1975. A total of students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 13 to 18) attend Waitākere College as of Students entering the college are allocated into one of three "Houses". The house names use

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 ...

words: Aroha (Love), Manawanui (Perseverance), and Matauranga (Knowledge). Their respective mascots are; a Dragon, a Lion and a Dolphin. These three houses represent the school's three core values. During the course of the year students can earn points for their house with good behaviour and marks in class and participating in extracurricular activities. These points are added up every week in an assembly to determine the winner for that particular week. This also happens at the end of terms and a final one at the end of the year shows which house has won that year with the most points. Waitākere College offers an extra 'Performing Arts' subject formerly run by Stephen Nightingale. Entry is based on an audition process and the course runs for years 9 and 10. It covers drama, dance, music, singing, theatre, film/television, editing, theatre lighting, make-up and costume. Waitākere College is often used as a filming location for the New Zealand

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...

'', as the location of Ferndale High School.

Enrolment

As of , Waitākere College has a roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , the school 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 4 and 5 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).

Notable alumni

* Shayne Elliott (born 1963/64), New Zealand banker, CEO of

ANZ Bank The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly known as ANZ Bank, is a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fo ...

. *

Sione Lauaki Sione Tuitupu Lauaki (22 June 1981 – 12 February 2017) was a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union footballer who played for Bayonne. He previously played for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. His brother, Epalahame Lauaki, is a 2n ...

(1981–2017),

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

References

1975 establishments in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1975 Henderson-Massey Local Board Area New Zealand secondary schools of S68 plan construction Secondary schools in Auckland Schools in West Auckland, New Zealand {{NewZealand-school-stub