About Columba College

Columba College has an enviable reputation of academic excellence and all-around achievement. The family atmosphere of the school does much to create a sense of belonging and to engender a strong sense of community.

Alongside our strong academic focus, we also teach our students that individuals matter and each and every one of them can make a difference. With opportunities to lead and serve and participate in sporting and cultural pursuits, students leave Columba as capable and committed individuals, with an understanding of the world beyond self and confident in the pursuit of their dreams.

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A Special Character Composite School

Columba College is a special character, state-integrated, day and boarding school for girls from Years 7 to 13 with a co-educational Junior School (Years 0 to 6). The College has a total roll of 565 approved by the Ministry of Education. Boarders are accepted from Years 7 to 13, and overseas students enrich the cultural diversity and add an international dimension to the school.

Built on a Presbyterian foundation, Columba retains close links to the Presbyterian Church but welcomes students of other denominations and faiths. The College has a chaplain who leads weekly chapel services. Special services are also held in founding churches of the city, First Church of Otago and Knox Church. Religious Studies is taught at all levels of the school. We focus on service and citizenship helping our students to think and care about others.

As a state integrated school, Columba College teaches the New Zealand curriculum but maintains its own special character as described above. Governors preserve that special character and retain ownership of the school land and buildings. Representatives of the governors sit as trustees on the school’s board of trustees.

An area, or composite school, simply means that we take students from Year 1 through to Year 13.