Nga Tawa Diocesan School, also known as the Wellington Diocesan School for Girls, is an integrated, Anglican girls’ boarding school

Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

 situated in the heart of the Rangitikei. It is found just outside the township of Marton in New Zealand

Marton, New Zealand

Marton is the hub of the Rangitikei district of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is situated 35 kilometres southeast of Wanganui and 40 kilometres northwest of Palmerston North. The population was 4752 .-History:...

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History

The school was founded near Shannon in 1891, by Mary Taylor. She named her school Nga Tawa because of the tawa trees

Tawa (tree)

The Tawa tree is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in...

 that grew nearby. In 1909, the school relocated from Shannon to Calico Line, where it stands today. The original buildings were burnt to the ground in 1924. Today, the school has roughly 250 pupils, most of whom are boarders. The school also accepts a small number of international students.

The boarding facilities at Nga Tawa are unique. In years 9 to 11 (13 to 15 years old) the students live in 'Main Block'. Here they are housed in rooms of two to six. Every year group has their own common room. In years 11 and 12 (15–17 years of age) the boarders live in 'Marshall House' in individual rooms. Year 13 (17–18 years of age) live in cottages that house five to eight students. These cottages give the boarders a chance to develop independence in a flatting type situation.

Co-curricular

Nga Tawa's students participate in a wide variety of sports and performs well across a range of sporting disciplines. The Sports Department is highly motivated to achieve sporting excellence. It has an Equestrian Centre with stabling for up to 80 horses. It has a dressage arena, a full-sized showjumping arena, 1200m all weather canter track and a full cross-country course.

There are also many other cultural activities offered at the school. Nga Tawa students appear in everything from school and local musicals to performances in the Shakespeare competition. Many students take Speech and Drama lessons and the school also has many talented debaters.

Academic

The school offers the International Baccalaureate exams as well as the New Zealand NCEA

National Certificate of Educational Achievement

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement is, since 2004, the official secondary school qualification in New Zealand.It has three levels, corresponding to the levels within the National Qualifications Framework, and these are generally studied in each of the three final years of...

exams.