Our Special Character

Our school’s Foundation Story established our special character. Aspiring parents who wanted the very best education for their children set up our school in 1973. This involved considerable personal investment from these families, to purchase the land, develop the site into a school, and foster a strong sense of service based upon their Christian values which are integral to our school.

Since our foundation, a strong and positive community has flourished and has become a hallmark of our school. Our students typically describe a strong sense of belonging, support and community. Parents are well connected through our Kristin Friends and Family (KFF) group, and we celebrate our foundation story at our annual Summer Carnival on Foundation Day. Fostering a strong and collaborative staff culture is a priority of the school’s leadership team.

This pioneering spirit that founded our school is still an important feature of our school’s character. It can be seen within our desire to maintain an innovative and progressive educational programme and experiences for our students. Kristin was the first IB World School in New Zealand, offering the IB Diploma programme since 1986 and the first to offer the Primary (PYP) and Middle School (MYP) programmes. It was the first school to offer the teaching of Mandarin across the school and was a leading school in the early development of digital technology learning. This exciting educational experience continues to be fostered through our extensive range of high-quality opportunities within the classroom and across our co-curricular activities.

The Christian character of Kristin is recognised in our beautiful Chapel and dedicated Chaplain, as well as our school’s values which are captured in our school motto: “Progress with Vision, Integrity and Love”. Traditional Christian values have always been part of our school, and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). All students attend chapel services around once a month, which focus on our values and messages for positive living. We are an interdenominational school, so are inclusive of all Christian denominations and welcoming of all people. Our Christian character is most visibly lived out through our chapel, our values, and our active service programmes. Opportunities to lead, give back, serve and support others, enables growth based on compassion, empathy and justice. Occasions such as our Middle School “Base Days” provide the time and space for students to explore their sense of self (behaviours and attitudes), based on positive character, faith and our values. 

Having high expectations and standards is part of who we are here at Kristin, as intended by our aspirational founding parents. We believe we need to help grow and develop young people to be the best that they can be, in order that they can go out into our wider community and world to make a real and positive difference.

Our special character is: our Christian foundation, our aspirations and hope, our wide-ranging opportunities, our values and service, and our desire to become and do our very best in order to make a real and positive difference in our world.