Hutt Valley High School International

Welcome from the Principal

Nau mai haere mai ki tēnei Te Kura Tuarau o Te Awakairangi.

Principal Denise Johnson with the Head Students for 2024 at the front of Hutt Valley High School, Student Leadership

Hutt Valley High School (HVHS) a vibrant and exciting coeducational and multicultural high school with an outstanding reputation for preparing students well for their futures. Founded in 1926 we offer high-quality education in an inclusive, positive and nurturing environment.

HVHS is a large school with 1,960 students, but there is a space and a place for everyone, including our international students. We offer a calm, friendly and purposeful campus where students achieve incredible things. Our values are that we are kind, we are welcoming, we persevere, and we achieve.

Our school offers multiple opportunities in sports, performing arts and cultural pursuits for students to connect, grow and experience fun and success.

Our students are firmly at the centre of all we do. Their well-being as important to us as their academic, cultural and sporting success.

International Director Jodie Murden and her team will get to know each student. They will focus on what interests them, what makes them happy, what their goals are, the sports or music groups they want to join and the academic focus they have for their time in New Zealand.

We look forward to your student and family joining us.

Ngā mihi nui,

Denise Johnson
Tumuaki/Principal

Our Location – Lower Hutt in the Wellington Region

Map of Lower Hutt, New Zealand designed for International Students travelling to Hutt Valley High School.

Lower Hutt – 15 Minutes to Wellington City

Lower Hutt, while a little smaller in population than Wellington City, is big on beautiful outdoor experiences, big on fresh produce from the land and sea, and huge on hospitality

Welcoming & Safe Community

You’ll find Wellingtonians, and especially the Hutt Valley High School community, are among the most welcoming and accepting people you’ll meet. We celebrate different cultures, identities, religions, beliefs, and abilities in our communities.

Great Place to Study & Live

Wellington is a compact city that is one of the most liveable locations in the world. Good public transport, short commutes and low levels of pollution help students to both easily travel to school and explore the Wellington region’s many attractions and activities. Research from the Global Liveability Index often ranks Wellington as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

International Students studying at Hutt Valley High School

In 2023, Hutt Valley High School welcomed 65 international students from 11 different countries. Families choose for their students to study here as we offer a vibrant, inclusive high school with exceptional opportunities. As a school, we take pride in:

  • a strong school culture, based on our values of being welcoming, kind and respectful, and persevering and working hard to achieve success.
  • ‍understanding our students’ goals and supporting them to succeed.
  • our international students from all over the world.
  • a caring and professional International Team that is dedicated to looking after our International students.
  • our House System that places students in one of six houses providing opportunities for friendship, support, competitions and fun.
  • offering a broad range of subjects with highly qualified and experienced teaching and support staff.
  • an extensive range of extracurricular opportunities – sports, clubs, performing arts, culture, enrichment, leadership and more.
  • our location, Hutt Valley High School is based in Lower Hutt in the Wellington region. Our school is just a 15-minute drive from Wellington City.
  • the world-class education system in New Zealand leads the way in educating students for the future. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked New Zealand first out of 35 economies for instilling future skills.

See Hutt Valley High School in action in our short video here

Helpful Information for Families of International Students

Connect with Us

Denise Johnson
Principal
Jodie Murden
International Student Director
Anna Kingsford
International Homestay Coordinator
Joanna Holm
International Administrator