About Our School

Duvauchelle Primary School is a small, rural, contributing State Primary School catering for students from Year 0-Year 6. 

Our school was established in 1860. It was initially part of a Church School built in the Bay in the 1850s. The old school bell is preserved and still used daily.  The original classroom still stands on site and is currently in use as the school Library and a teaching/learning space.  Additions over the years include: another classroom, an old dental clinic that was the library for a while, and is now a much needed storage area, a new administration block, a new library that was converted to a classroom in 2016, and lastly a new tennis court. 

There are networked laptops, i-pads & desktops in the classrooms. Every senior student is supplied with a laptop, and all juniors have i-pads to use as tools in their daily learning. The school’s pool has recently been upgraded and we are looking forward to many more years of swimming lessons and long hot summers.

The current student roll is culturally diverse with New Zealand European children forming the majority. We are fortunate enough to have students of Maori, French, British, Kenyan, Tongan, Swiss-German, Spanish, Czech Republic and Japanese descent. We value our bi-cultural heritage, and the cultures of ourselves and others. Our students come from a large geographical area & a number of the students travel to school each day, from the surrounding bays, on our own school bus.

Our community wants the best of both worlds. Living here on the Peninsula is a lifestyle choice and one that connects everyone of us to the land, sea and other permanent residents. Living here does not mean though that anyone should have to compromise on the educational opportunities for their children. We aim to provide a high quality, localised curriculum which makes the most of our amazing surroundings, local resources and talents. This curriculum and the way our school days are structured means that our tamariki find many many opportunities to grow, be passionate about their learning and keep on their journey to awesomeness.

We have an open, positive and supportive learning partnership between students, parents, staff and our community.

We have a long tradition of being a focal point in the local community and enjoy an increasing level of community involvement and support.