Our Vision and Values
Strategic Plan 2024
Inspire ~ Empower ~ Challenge ~ Dream
Whakaohoho ~ Whakamana ~ Werohia ~ Moemoea
Otago Girls’ High School is a progressive school of 750 students in the heart of Dunedin city. Academic success is at the heart of all that we do, encouraging every student to be inspired, to empower their learning and themselves, to respond to challenge and to dream big dreams. Our academic results are amongst the best in the country, including in Scholarship and in the gaining of University Scholarships.
We treasure and live our school values of Respect, Positivity and Integrity. These are embedded in our PB4L culture - Positive Behaviour for Learning - which ensures settled and productive learning environments. Respect is about treating all people well. Integrity is doing the right thing. Positivity is about having grit and optimism when we face hard things.
Our rich traditions, special school events, house system, ‘Sisters’, School Council, student leadership and peer support programmes create a special community where every student finds a place and belonging. We are a diverse school with vibrant Māori, Pacific and global community relationships. We acknowledge a special connection with Kai Tahu mana whenua locally and welcome international students and former refugee students to study at our school. We value what each student brings with them and have living partnerships with school families. We work closely with Otago Boys’ High School, sharing some classes and many activities, including our premier kapa haka group – Wairua Pūhou, production, choir and junior Friends programme.
We have a very broad and wide-ranging curriculum, offering 45 subject options. Our opportunities outside the classroom are vast, including camps and outdoor education, close links with the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic and many and varied work-based programmes. Year 9 students experience a choice of 10 subjects.
Our distinguished alumni and regular events connecting us with our past students build a rich tapestry of past and present year upon year. We value the school symbol of the Chambered Nautilus, with each chamber of the nautilus representing a new year and stage in our lives, with renewed promise of what we can be.
Our facilities are modern and well-appointed. We have a full-sized gymnasium, six science laboratory spaces, six specialist technology and art rooms, full school assembly hall, Music and Performing Arts Suite including theatre and dance spaces, three-storeyed climbing wall and a Classroom By the Sea in Kitchener Street on the harbour which doubles as our premier rowing facility. 2024 sees the start of a building project which will upgrade three science laboratories and give improved accessibility in all blocks. We are also in the planning stage for an upgrade of our grounds and courts, including creating outdoor performance spaces.
Co-curricular sports, arts, service and environmental activities are core to our life at Otago Girls’ High School. We offer over 50 different out-of-school activities and are proud of our teacher involvement in these, meaning that relationships between teachers and students are strong and supportive. We excel in the Sports and in the Arts and have many national and international successes both while at school and in our lives beyond school. These activities complement life in the classroom, creating balanced citizens who relate effectively with others and give back in their communities.
At Otago Girls’ High School excellence in education has spanned over 150 years. Students here are charging into the future, taking with them treasured friendships, aptitudes, knowledge and memories from school that are life-lasting.
Mā te mātauraka ka tū teitei te tōtara ~Through education the totara tree will stand tall
Recti cultus pectora roborant ~ The right education makes the heart as strong as oak
