We have welcomed 55 new students to Waimea College, taking our international roll to 71 for this term.

Our new students have come from a variety of countries including Germany, Thailand, Austria, Laos, Japan, Finland and South Africa.

We sincerely thank our host families who do an amazing job looking after our international students so well. Our international department could not be this successful without the support of our wonderful host families.

We were kept busy during the first few weeks of term with our Orientation programme which included a pizza lunch ‘meet and greet’ with our international buddies.
A lovely bunch of Waimea students have volunteered their time to help our new students settle into school and to offer them support as they transition into life in New Zealand. It is such an important role and one that benefits both the international student and their kiwi buddy – so thank you so much for putting up your hands to help out!

Every second Thursday we hold an international gym night at the Waimea College gymnasium where students can play a range of sports including volleyball, tennis, basketball, football and badminton. This is always a very popular event with the international students, and we look forward to our next session later this month.

On Sunday 12 February we held an international homestay picnic where our host families and international students came together at Rabbit Island for fun games and a picnic. Sack races, three legged races and chain relay races were a highlight with the students, and a lot of fun for all.

Arriving in mid-March we welcome a short-term group of students from Thailand. The students will be visiting for around four weeks to experience life in New Zealand, living with a host family and attending school at Waimea College.

We are always interested in hearing from any prospective host families, so if you would like to know more about hosting to see if it could be for you, please don’t hesitate to contact our Homestay Coordinator, Mel Young on 544 6099 ext 868 or intl.homestay@waimea.school.nz.