Opportunities

We have a range of educational and recreational opportunities for our students. We also mix with other local rural schools to provide choices for our students.

The smaller nature of our environment also means we have a greater ability to tailor our programmes to suit our individual students.

Some of the opportunities we have provided include:

Sanford Science Fair
Otago Science Expo
STEM Extension group
Access to UNSW Competitions.
Waitaki Rural Schools Speech, Technology and sports challenges
Music tuition
Specialist art group
Cutting edge Robotics Programme

Some of the sporting opportunities we have provided include:

Ohau Ski School (Each Friday of Term 3)
Mountain biking group
Touch Rugby teams
Basketball teams
Hockey teams
Athletics, Cross Country, Gymnastics and Swimming Competitions as part of Rural Schools Network
Aquatic programme annually
Cricket competitions

We also have strong links with local sporting clubs.

To aid our senior students in their transition to high school we plan a wide number of events to build social networks.

Rural Year 8 Days each term.
Attendance at National Young Leaders Day.
Regular learning activities with our neighbouring rural schools.
School camps with neighbouring rural schools.
Termly "Fun Afternoons" with neighbouring schools.
WRSN "Leaders of Tomorrow" programme. Based on the Duke of Edinburgh award, which encourages leadership and self-motivation.

Our senior students benefit from the leadership opportunities at Totara School. They are expected to provide physical activity leadership (PALs), run school assemblies, organise school activities and generally take responsibility for younger students.