Last updated October 2026
Aotea College is a state, co-educational secondary school for Years 9 to 13 at Okowai Road, Porirua. It opened in 1978 and had 1,358 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes all of Aotea, and parts of Porirua City Centre; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site describes a whānau house system in which each student has a Hui Ako teacher who sets goals with them and is the main contact for parents, a Learning Support team that offers individual education plans and help with assessment conditions, and a Pathways team that advises on subjects, courses, work placements and careers.
Music students get group lessons in guitar, piano, voice and drums, and the long list of clubs runs from vocal groups, a jazz orchestra and a haka group to coding, chess, drama, an outdoors club and the Duke of Ed award.
At a glance
- Principal
- Jason White
- Address
- Okowai Road, Porirua
- Phone
- 04 237 3166
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Aotea.
Parts of Porirua City Centre near Wellington: check your street.
Zone boundaries are set by the school’s enrolment scheme and can change. Confirm your address with the school before you rely on it.
NCEA results
School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with all New Zealand school leavers.
This school New Zealand
School leavers are students who left school that year, whatever year level they left from.
Who goes here
Share of the 1,358 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
26 international students
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Stand-downs and suspensions
Cases per 1,000 students in 2025, adjusted for the ages of the school’s students, compared with all New Zealand schools.
Suspensions: fewer than 5 cases in 2025, so no rate is shown.
These measure how a school responds to behaviour, and schools set their own thresholds, so they are not a measure of how students behave.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a Te Ara Huarau School Profile Report from November 2023. This kind of report sets out what ERO and the school will look at together, here how changes to the school’s NCEA programme can build each student’s path on their own goals and identity and those of their whānau, and how the Poutama Reo tools can support Māori knowledge being given equal standing.
ERO pointed to a positive, inclusive climate for learning built on well-run systems, effective teaching and a wide curriculum that adapts to students, a track record of meeting very different student needs, capable staff who live out the school’s vision and values, and leaders who keep strong learning partnerships going with whānau, hapū, iwi and local schools in its Kāhui Ako.
Next, the school planned to keep culturally responsive practice at the centre of its curriculum work, lead the NCEA and national curriculum changes in a way that lifts results fairly for every student, keep supporting teachers’ professional learning in mātauranga Māori, and develop te reo Māori progressions using Poutama Reo to measure them.
Read the ERO reports for Aotea College
Enrolling
Aotea College has an enrolment scheme, so students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol. Out-of-zone places are offered under the scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places, in the priority order set by law: students in a special programme run by the college, then siblings of current students, siblings of former students, children of former students, children of staff or board members, and then everyone else.
Families can apply online or with a paper form, and need the student’s birth certificate (or passport and visa or citizenship papers for students born overseas) and a current proof of address. The school publishes its out-of-zone ballot dates, a list of in-zone streets and its enrolment notice on its enrolment page each year.
Schools nearby
In Aotea
Aotea College is in Aotea. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Aotea guide →Questions parents ask
Is Aotea College zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Aotea and parts of Porirua City Centre near Wellington.
What years does it teach?
Years 9 to 13.
How many students go there?
1,358 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
No. It is in the donation scheme, so it only asks for donations for school camps.
What is its Equity Index?
441. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
How did its school leavers do in NCEA?
In 2025, 84.1% of its school leavers had NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with 77.8% of all New Zealand school leavers.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 28 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Home zone: Ministry of Education enrolment zones (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0).