Introduction

Welcome to Cromwell College located in the heart of Central Otago and the South Island. We are a New Zealand state secondary school catering for students in Years 7 – 13. With a roll of 600 students we offer a quality education in a friendly, family atmosphere. Cromwell College prides itself on the broad holistic education provided for our students, from traditional academic study to vocational study to specialist programmes for senior students. Our students also participate in a wide variety of sporting and extracurricular activities.

Cromwell is a thriving New Zealand provincial town of 5500 people close to Wanaka and Queenstown. The town is located at the junction of the Clutha and Kawarau Rivers and is surrounded by the Pisa, Dunstan and Cairnmuir mountains. Typical Cromwell weather consists of warm, dry summers, crisp, clear winters and low rainfall. Although snowfalls are heavy in the surrounding mountains, snow in the town is a rare event.

The building of the Clyde Dam in the 1980’s created Lake Dunstan and provided Cromwell with a wealth of modern facilities. Tourism, horticulture and a rapidly expanding viticulture industry are the economic mainstays of the town today.

SCHOOL PROFILE

Cromwell College began in 1978 with the change from Cromwell District High School into a Year 7 – 13 College.  The College has been at the current site since 1984.  The College is a Decile 8 state co-educational school with no enrolment scheme.  Students from Cromwell and the surrounding areas including Bannockburn, Lowburn, Tarras and Ripponvale attend the school.   The school has experienced steady roll growth and now provides education for 600 students.  Approximately 19% of the school’s population identify themselves as Maori or Pasifika students.  In recent years students from other nationalities have moved into the Cromwell area and the school has a small but growing multicultural population made up of immigrants from Fiji, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Philippines, India, England and other countries.

In 1995 the College instituted a specialist academy and lifestyle programme known as the Outdoor Pursuits Programme.  This programme was discontinued in 2022. 

The College also maintains a small international fee-paying students’ programme with an upper limit of 10% of the school’s senior roll.  Our international students usually arrive from Germany, Thailand and Japan.

2024 Head Students, Oliver King and Maddie Pask

The Cromwell Basin

Lake Dunstan and Cromwell in the mid-ground, Mt Pisa to the left and the Dunstan Range to the right