Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre: Zone, NCEA Results & School Facts

Last updated November 2026

Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre is a state, co-educational secondary school for Years 9 to 13 at Taranaki Street, Wellington. It opened in 1886 and had 1,652 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.

Its home zone includes 36 suburbs in full and parts of 5 more, among them Pipitea, Houghton Bay, Highbury, Te Aro, Kelburn and Berhampore; the zone map below shows the full boundary.

In Years 9 and 10 students belong to a Herengatahi group of up to 60 and a smaller rōpū of about 15 with a teacher who follows their learning, and Year 9 students take Te Ao Māori and choose Chinese, Japanese or Spanish alongside taster courses in the arts and technology.

The site lists a wide range of sports and cultural groups, including kapa haka, rock bands, jazz band, productions and debating, and the school takes international students and runs a Community Education Centre with its own website.

At a glance

TypeSecondaryYears 9 to 13

Roll1,6521 Sep 2026

AuthorityStateNot integrated

StudentsCo-edBoys and girls

Home zoneYesSince 2003

Equity Index401Scale 344 to 569

Opened1886Boarding: no

TeachingEnglishAll classes

DonationsNot in the donation scheme: the school may ask families for donations.

Principal

Dominic Killalea

Address

Taranaki Street, Wellington

Phone

04 385 8911

Visit the school website

Home zone

Explore the map

Suburbs in the zone: all of Mount Victoria, Kingston, Vogeltown Wellington, Melrose Wellington, Strathmore Park Wellington, Mount Cook Wellington, Aro Valley Wellington, Karori Wellington, Mornington Wellington, Thorndon Wellington, Newtown, Kelburn, Northland, Berhampore, Highbury, Southgate Wellington, Miramar Wellington, Wadestown Wellington, Kilbirnie Wellington, Brooklyn Wellington, Wellington Central, Hataitai Wellington, Mākara Wellington, Ōwhiro Bay, Rongotai Wellington, Seatoun Wellington, Island Bay Wellington, Mākara Beach, Te Aro, Maupuia Wellington, Pipitea, Karaka Bays Wellington, Lyall Bay, Houghton Bay, Breaker Bay Wellington and Roseneath.

Parts of Oriental Bay, Moa Point Wellington, Wilton, Ohariu Wellington and Kaiwharawhara 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.

202587.9% NZ 77.8%

202484.2% NZ 76.9%

202383% NZ 75.8%

This school New Zealand

Level 3 or above71.8%2025 · NZ 59%

School leavers are students who left school that year, whatever year level they left from.

Who goes here

Share of the 1,652 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.

European81%

Asian17%

Māori12%

MELAA5%

Other4%

Pacific3%

58 international students

Roll at 1 July, 2021 to 20251,382 in 2021 → 1,674 in 2025

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.

Stand-downs8 per 1,00019 cases · NZ 36.1 per 1,000

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 School Evaluation Report from May 2026. ERO found that students do very well in both learning and wellbeing, and that results are becoming fairer across groups.

A large majority gain NCEA Level 2 and 3 and a small majority gain University Entrance, and outcomes for Māori students are not yet equitable but are improving.

At Year 10, most students meet the reading part of the NCEA literacy requirement and a large majority meet the writing part, and most meet the numeracy requirement.

Students told ERO they feel included and that their voice counts, and ERO noted that the school now interviews every student who joins and gives each one individual academic and pastoral support. A small majority of students attend regularly, and this is improving.

ERO’s priorities for the school are to build teachers’ confidence in using data to improve results, strengthen equitable outcomes for every group of students, and refine and carry out its plan to raise regular attendance, with leaders reporting on attendance, achievement and wellbeing to the board and community.

Read the ERO reports for Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

Enrolling

Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol, and must be living at their in-zone address on the day they start. Out-of-zone places are offered under the enrolment scheme in a set order of priority, by ballot when there are more applicants than places.

The school publishes its out-of-zone closing dates, ballot dates and interview timeline on its enrolment page each year, and in-zone applications can be made at any time.

Families can enrol online or ask the enrolment officer for paper forms. Applications need a birth certificate or passport, the student’s last school report, a student reflection sheet and a whānau reflection sheet, recent proof of address and a photo, and the school holds enrolment interviews with new students. International fee-paying students apply through the school’s international section.

• Enrolment
• Zone
• International students

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