We aim for all our students to be successful academically, and to strive to reach their goals.

Our community tells us they want our students to be engaged, confident, resilient, risk-taking, flexible thinkers, who respect and value others.

We encourage students’ strengths and interests and support them to identify their future pathway beyond school. 

Our curriculum is structured to provide students with a depth of experience in a broad range of programmes. The learning programme for Year 9 and 10 students includes all eight Learning Areas from the New Zealand Curriculum: nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/

These programmes run for the whole year in both Year 9 and 10:

• English, Health and Physical Education, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies.Year 9 students also learn in:
• Arts: a semester each in Dance, Drama, Visual Art, and Music or Performance Music
• Learning Languages: students choose ONE of: French, Japanese, or Te Reo Māori
• Technology: a semester each in Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies, Food Technology and Hard Materials.

Additionally, Year 10 students choose combinations of Arts, Learning Languages and/or Technology courses as listed above. 

Year 10 students may also choose Enterprise Studies and/or Business and Personal Financial Skills. 

There are a range of half-year Year 10 elective courses for students to select from to complete their course. 

Electives cover a wide range of learning and areas of interest. 

Options include cross-curriculum, project-based, collaborative and contextual learning.

Follow this link for more information on the Riccarton High School Curriculum.

CONNECTIVITY AND COLLABORATION

We have a strong focus on encouraging connections across all learning areas within the school. 

This includes:

• Teachers of the same learning groups working together
• Teachers in different learning groups working together
• Teachers sharing best practice with each other
• Students working together to develop their skills around problem solving, collaboration and resiliency
• Students and teachers working together to develop the most effective teaching practices from the student’s perspective.

GIFTED AND TALENTED EDUCATION (GATE)

Our GATE coordinator mentors students who have been identified as gifted and talented. 

We offer enrichment programmes, extension within school learning programmes, support for students working towards competitions and scholarships. 

We have established links with the University of Canterbury and with professionals working in a variety of industries and educational institutions.