High School - 14 to 18 yrs old

100% Pass Rate

Through a holistic and supportive approach, our students flourish - we celebrate that all who have taken the NZ Steiner Certificate have not only passed but have also been accepted by their first-choice universities.

Inspiring Curiosity and Independent Thinking

The St Michael High School was founded in 2012. High School students are aged between 14 and 18; they enter Class 9 in their fifteenth year. In the High School, the students no longer have a Class Teacher; lessons are taught by subject specialists.

We offer a broad curriculum that aims to help our students develop independence, resourcefulness, responsibility, flexibility, initiative, an active interest in the world and in learning as a lifelong activity. With these things in mind, the programme has a balance of experiential, practical and intellectual learning. Studio and performing arts, crafts, sciences, mathematics, languages and humanities are integrated across the curriculum so that the students experience their education as a cohesive whole.Teaching staff in the High School are qualified and experienced subject specialists. Many also teach in the Lower and Middle School, and so have an active understanding of their subjects throughout the school. Other subjects are taught by regular visiting specialists who also teach in other Steiner Waldorf schools around the country.

We do not usually admit students to Classes 11 or 12 unless they have come from other Waldorf schools.

Timetable and Curriculum

The morning timetable is organised in two approximately 2-hour periods each day, so that most subjects are taught in intensive blocks that change every 3 – 5 weeks. This means that students focus on two subjects at a time. Weekly choir and Bothmer movement sessions are integrated into the morning. The afternoon timetable includes Orchestra, Arts, Crafts, and P.E.

In Classes 9, 10 and 11, there is a course of compulsory Main Lessons for all students. Midway through Class 11, students are consulted about their hopes and plans for the future, and the programme for Class 12 is designed with their wishes in mind. There is an increasing number of optional Main Lessons and elective lessons in Class 12, when the students choose 3 or 4 areas of specialisation in addition to the compulsory blocks, and undertake a year-long personal project as well as a major theatrical production.

In Class 9 there is the possibility of student exchanges for those interested in improving their foreign languages. Students from other countries also often visit and study with us for a term at a time.