Chilton St James School

Chilton Saint James School is a world-class private girls’ day school through years 1 to 13. The campus sits on Waterloo Road in Lower Hutt – a quick 15 minutes from downtown Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city.We also operate a co-educational Preschool at our campus on Waterloo Road. Established in 1918, Chilton is a private school, affiliated with the Anglican Church. We welcome students from all faiths and aim to teach respect for one another’s religious traditions.

Chilton Saint James is a remarkable school set up by a very remarkable woman, Geraldine FitzGerald. A woman of vigour, talent and single-minded vision, she made sure that her pupils had a richness of experience they needed to thrive in this pioneering country.

The world has changed a lot since our foundation, but our approach remains the same. We do not offer a stifling education. Life at Chilton is a broad, rich and diverse set of stimulating experiences. We fuse the best in academic achievement with the best in creative and active physical expression. Our goal is to create that most elusive and valuable of commodities in today’s challenging world: creativity.

Chilton Saint James School was founded in 1918 by Miss Geraldine FitzGerald. Lower Hutt was chosen as the wartime location as it was considered a safer environment than Wellington's exposed city centre.The suburban campus has ideal facilities with expansive playing fields, an outdoor swimming pool and growth space for future development of facilities.

Our campus is laid out across various period and modern buildings, all of which are named after important people in our history. The latest addition in 2010, the Greenwood Building was opened by the Honourable John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the Right Reverend Dr Thomas Brown, Bishop of Wellington. The building is itself named after Elizabeth Greenwood, a friend of Miss FitzGerald and a leading figure in fundraising for the School’s establishment.

The learning hub for the whole school and used by all students from Preschool to year 13, is the library. This is situated in the Greenwood Building and is named after Nesta Mason, the second Principal of Chilton.

Another focal point of the School is the Jubilee Centre, built in our 75th (Jubilee) year and housing a large multi-purpose gymnasium space used for teaching Physical Education and other uses such as concerts, shows, sports matches and assemblies, combined with a theatre used for dance and drama classes.

Preschool at Chilton offers the first formal step to becoming remarkable as a life-long learner. The Chilton Preschool challenges and nurtures the pre-literate child and provides a strong foundation for future success at school. We welcome boys and girls, aged 2, 3 and 4 into our Preschool programmes.

The Preschool has a wonderful reputation in the community because of the focused and nurturing approach of our attentive and caring staff with excellent teacher to child ratios. Our dedicated and qualified teachers provide the right balance of structured and free play plus specialist classes which include Music, Dance and Physical Education. Nestled in the Junior School, our Preschool enjoys modern purpose-designed facilities with two age appropriate preschool playgrounds. The Preschool is integrated with the Chilton Junior School, which provides a seamless transition for girls entering the next important step in their education at age 5.

Children of 2 years are at a turning point in their lives, they are embarking on the road toward separation and independence. In their struggle for autonomy, these children are eager to assert a mind of their own, to have their own say. They yearn to be individuals. They are just learning to use their language, to express strong feelings, often revealing this through their actions. If children are to become autonomous and competent they must develop a clear sense of self.

The foundation is laid during their toddler years. Only then can children develop traits such as self-motivation, pride, self-respect and accountability. Our programme for 2 – 3 year olds enables our children to experience thinking, learning, social and emotional changes whilst exploring and making sense of the world around them. We link our observations and learning stories to Te Whāriki, the IB (PYP) programme and the Chilton Preschool curriculum.

The curriculum for 3 and 4 year olds is based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) using Te Whāriki, and the Chilton curriculum. There is a strong focus on literacy, numeracy, self-management skills giving our children a head-start for school.

The IB PYP Programme supports students to gain understanding of the world and to learn to function comfortably within it, moving from not knowing, to knowing. In the PYP, it is acknowledged that experiences during the early years lay the foundations for all future learning.