Welcome to Waitakere 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 havehigh expectations of their students to achieve their best in each subject.

The third pillar is our parent/whanau community who feel involved, informed and included in their son ordaughter's journey through Waitakere College.

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

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

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

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

MARK P SHANAHAN

Principal