Queen Margaret College is Wellington’s leading independent school for girls Year 1 – 13, with a co-educational Preschool onsite. We are the only girls’ school in Wellington to offer boarding for students in Year 9 – 13. Located in the heart of Wellington, our students and boarders discover all New Zealand’s capital city has to offer through education outside the classroom opportunities.
We believe in the importance of girls’ education. Our College is small enough to ensure every girl is valued and nurtured to reach her full potential but sufficiently large enough to offer a diverse range of subjects. We are the only girls’ school in New Zealand to offer three IB World Programmes: the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and the IB Diploma.
Our students are empowered to live, learn and lead in our holistic environment, which provides ample opportunities in leadership, sport and cultural activities. Although our school is built on the values of Presbyterianism we welcome girls from all religions and backgrounds.
The IB Diploma is highly regarded internationally and studied in over 145 countries. Since 2011, when the first cohort of IB Diploma candidates graduated, Queen Margaret College has had a 100 percent pass rate for the IB Diploma with a number of students achieving a forty plus score each year.
Children are natural inquirers therefore guided inquiry learning, fostering of curiosity and development of critical thinking and collaborative skills through the Primary Years Programme (PYP) form the basis of all classroom programmes in the Junior School.
Year 1–2
We believe a child’s early years at school are a time to develop interests and their own learning theories. Our teachers observe and develop each child by planning uninterrupted play time, building strong relationships with students and their families, creating and maintaining responsive and interactive learning spaces and offering many opportunities for exploration and expression. Teaching of numeracy and literacy skills is a key feature of this programme to build a strong foundation in Year 3–5.
Year 3–5
In these years, the emphasis is on developing independence in learning by providing broad opportunities to build our students’ abilities across many areas of academic, sporting and cultural endeavours and fostering confidence by learning to express and justify ideas.
There is a strong focus on exploring six themes including the Arts, English, Mathematics, Science, Technology and Humanities. We continue to build on numeracy and literacy skills set down in the early years.
Year 6
In addition to exploring the six themes identified in Year 3–5 and refining their literacy and numeracy skills, students in Year 6 have the opportunity to choose an issue to explore through a teacher-guided inquiry process. This leads to the Year 6 Exhibition which celebrates the skills and learning dispositions students developed over their time in the Junior School. It also acknowledges our learning community for the ongoing collaborative role they play in the lives of students.
We are an International Baccalaureate World School authorised to teach the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP). The MYP emphasises learning, community service, attitude development and preparation for participation in an increasingly global society.
Building on the skills and knowledge developed through the Primary Years Programme in the Junior School, the programme is ideal preparation for the dual qualification pathway offered in the Senior School of either the IB Diploma or NCEA. Students can choose to take different elected subjects, depending on their interests and future goals. We encourage them to think about their education as a whole and transfer their knowledge of one subject to another.
We develop learners who have a growth mindset, empowering them to develop their talents through hard work, good strategies, and effective feedback. Students learn how to learn using communication, research, self-management, collaboration and critical thinking. Developing these skills helps students meet deadlines, concentrate, bounce back, persist and think positively. In our rapidly changing world, these are fundamental skills for students to prepare for increasingly complex life and work environments.
The programme can be illustrated by the MYP Curriculum Model which has the IB Learner Profile at the centre surrounded by the features of the programme, its outcomes and the curriculum students study. This provides a broad and balanced education for early adolescents.
