Last updated October 2026
Naenae College is a state, co-educational secondary school for Years 9 to 13 at 910 High Street, Lower Hutt. It opened in 1953 and had 862 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes all of Avalon, Kelson and Boulcott, and parts of Fairfield, Epuni, Naenae, Belmont, Tirohanga, Taitā, Waterloo and Hutt Central; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site describes Te Whānau Tahi Marae on the school grounds, extra reading help, tailored work, teacher aide support and a Learning Support Centre for students who need them, and a guidance team.
Outside class, students can join kapa haka and a Polynesian group, choirs and Rockquest bands, instrument lessons, speech, debating and Shakespeare competitions, school productions, an annual Multicultural Day and a wide range of sports.
At a glance
- Principal
- Chris Taylor
- Address
- 910 High Street, Lower Hutt
- Phone
- 04 567 7175
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Boulcott, Kelson and Avalon.
Parts of Fairfield, Epuni near Wellington, Naenae, Belmont, Tirohanga near Wellington, Taitā, Waterloo and Hutt Central: 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 862 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
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 July 2023. This kind of report sets out what ERO and the school will look at together, here how well the school’s Te Whānau Tahi values lift engagement and attendance and support students’ wellbeing and learning, after the school saw retention, attendance and engagement fall, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
ERO noted that the school manages the Lyriks Activity Centre for alternative education, runs engineering trades and service academies, and has a specialist class for students with ongoing learning support funding. It pointed to an inclusive culture built on the school’s values and restorative ways of repairing relationships, teaching and a curriculum that increasingly reflect students’ identities, well-established pastoral roles that support wellbeing, and joint work with local schools on attendance.
Next, the school planned to strengthen how it supports student wellbeing, build closer partnerships with families, whānau and Pacific āiga and with community services and agencies, use what students say to judge how well its programmes work, and keep making its curriculum and teaching culturally responsive, relevant and engaging.
Read the ERO reports for Naenae College
Enrolling
Naenae 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.
Enrolment has two stages. Families first fill in an application form with proof of address and the student’s birth certificate or passport, and the school then lets them know whether a place is offered. Families offered a place complete a second form with fuller personal, medical and achievement details and the student’s last progress report.
Schools nearby
In Avalon
Naenae College is in Avalon. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Avalon guide →Questions parents ask
Is Naenae College zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Boulcott, Kelson and Avalon and parts of Fairfield, Epuni near Wellington, Naenae, Belmont, Tirohanga near Wellington, Taitā, Waterloo and Hutt Central.
What years does it teach?
Years 9 to 13.
How many students go there?
862 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?
500. 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, 67.1% 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.
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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).