Welcome to Waitākere College

I believe three pillars make a great school.

The first pillar is our students who have high expectations of themselves to 'be the best they can be'.

The second pillar is our teachers who have high expectations of themselves as professionals and have high expectations of their students to achieve their best in each subject.

The third pillar is our parent/whānau community who feel involved, informed and included in their son or daughter's journey through Waitākere College.

We link these pillars to the tenets of our Waitākere Way, our daily code of how we operate. These tenets resonate with our "W" symbol of Waitākere College. They are:

• Respect draws on the values of tolerance, honesty, and integrity and asks each of us to respect ourselves and others.
• Caring ensures we have as a focus a safe school because if students feel safe, they are happy and they learn.
• Learning is our core business. As a College, we ensure that each student has high expectations of themselves academically and support this with SMART goals which are reviewed each term.

Our House System comprises Manawanui (perseverance), Matauranga (knowledge) and Aroha (love) which reinforce the growth of student achievement and reward students via house cards associated with academic progress.

The three pillars are supported by the three tenets of the Waitākere Way and the three houses all ensure that our motto "Achievement for All" means achievement for each student.

Mark P Shanahan
Principal