Last updated November 2026
Timaru Girls’ High School is a state, girls’ secondary school for Years 9 to 13 at Cain Street, Timaru. It opened in 1880 and had 477 students on its roll at 1 October 2026.
It has no home zone, so any student can apply. Girls from outside the area can board at The House, the hostel in the school grounds, and international students can study towards NCEA or take short English language programmes, with ESOL support.
Arts and culture include a school choir, chamber music, kapa haka, a Pasifika group, Rock Quest, a Shakespeare festival, wearable arts and a combined musical production with Timaru Boys’ High School, and the school offers free music tuition.
At a glance
- Principal
- Deb Hales
- Address
- Cain Street, Timaru
- Phone
- 03 688 1122
Home zone
No home zone: any student can apply to enrol. If more students apply than there are places, the school decides how places are offered.
NCEA results
School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with all New Zealand school leavers.
This school New Zealand
School leavers are students who left school that year, whatever year level they left from.
Who goes here
Share of the 477 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
19 international students
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Stand-downs and suspensions
Cases per 1,000 students in 2025, adjusted for the ages of the school’s students, compared with all New Zealand schools.
Suspensions: fewer than 5 cases in 2025, so no rate is shown.
These measure how a school responds to behaviour, and schools set their own thresholds, so they are not a measure of how students behave.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a Te Ara Huarau School Profile Report from October 2023.
The evaluation ERO and the school agreed on was prompted partly by concern about falling attendance and engagement and their effect on achievement, and by the need for fairer outcomes for Māori students, and it looks at how well relationship-based teaching is lifting results.
ERO noted that the school’s values are well known, that it has suitable systems and staff to respond to students’ wellbeing needs, and that leaders have been building capacity for this kind of teaching with outside specialists and other schools.
The school’s priorities are to plan how relationship-based teaching will be used across the whole school, provide professional learning in relational and culturally responsive teaching, strengthen partnerships with iwi, whānau and Māori students, and evaluate the effect on student outcomes.
Read the ERO reports for Timaru Girls’ High School
Enrolling
There is no home zone. Families enrol online using the school’s enrolment form, and the school holds an open day where families can look around and talk with staff. Boarding details are on the school’s hostel and boarding page.
Schools nearby
In Parkside Timaru
Timaru Girls' High School is in Parkside Timaru. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Parkside Timaru guide →Questions parents ask
Is Timaru Girls' High School zoned?
No. It has no home zone, so any student can apply to enrol.
What years does it teach?
Years 9 to 13.
How many students go there?
477 at 1 Oct 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
It may. It is not in the donation scheme, so it can ask families for donations.
What is its Equity Index?
474. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
Is it a single-sex school?
Yes. It takes girls only.
How did its school leavers do in NCEA?
In 2025, 74.2% of its school leavers had NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with 77.8% of all New Zealand school leavers.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 7 Nov 2026 (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0).