Last updated October 2026
St John’s Girls’ School is a state-integrated, girls’ full primary school for Years 1 to 8 at 349 Dee Street, Invercargill. It opened in 1917 and had 126 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes 44 suburbs in full and parts of 2 more, among them Omaui, Tussock Creek, Kennington, Sandy Point, Awarua and Tiwai Point; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s website describes an interdenominational Christian education with specialist teachers for Christian education, dance, speech and drama, music, art and physical education, a school production every second year, and annual outdoor camps for the senior classes, including trips to Stewart Island and Deep Cove. After school care runs on site in the library each weekday.
At a glance
- Principal
- Holly Bradshaw
- Address
- 349 Dee Street, Invercargill
- Phone
- 03 218 7759
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of West Invercargill, Otatara, Awarua, Seaward Bush, Lorneville, Waverley, Avenal, Mill Road, Richmond, Kew, Makarewa, Windsor, Grasmere, Strathern, Clifton, Hawthorndale, Georgetown Invercargill, Myross Bush Invercargill, Waihopai, Waikiwi, Heidelberg, Kingswell, Gladstone, Appleby, Newfield, Tisbury, Rockdale Invercargill, Invercargill Central, Wallacetown near Invercargill, Ascot, Rosedale, Hargest, Glengarry, Kennington, Prestonville Invercargill, Tussock Creek near Invercargill, Greenhills, Sandy Point, Omaui, Tiwai Point, Bluff, Ocean Beach, Motu Rimu and West Plains.
Parts of Woodend and Woodlands near Invercargill: check your street.
Zone boundaries are set by the school’s enrolment scheme and can change. Confirm your address with the school before you rely on it.
Who goes here
Share of the 126 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a School Report from April 2026. ERO found that most girls meet or exceed the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and maths, that results are equitable across groups, with Māori and Pacific students achieving highly, and that the school has kept maths achievement high since its previous review. It judged teaching to be of high quality and consistent across the school, and noted rich learning across the curriculum, good support for learners with complex needs, a caring, family-like culture built on the school’s values, and strong leadership backed by a supportive board.
A large majority of students attend regularly, and the school is close to the government’s 80% regular attendance target, with a suitable plan to improve. ERO identified one area of non-compliance, about keeping a teacher’s Limited Authority to Teach current, which the board has since addressed.
ERO’s key priorities for the school are to lift regular attendance through its attendance management plan, embed what teachers have learned from the new maths programme, take part in Te Pōhā training with iwi so learning connects with local stories and knowledge important to mana whenua, and adjust the way teachers’ professional growth is supported so it responds to what students say about their learning.
Read the ERO reports for St John’s Girls’ School (Invercargill)
Enrolling
St John’s Girls’ School is state-integrated and runs an enrolment scheme. Its website says applications are considered in priority order: siblings of current students first, then girls living in the school’s zone, then out-of-zone applicants, with preference applications, which require a Christian affiliation, accepted ahead of non-preference ones.
Offers also depend on space in each class and the date of the application, so the school advises applying early.
Attendance dues apply, and the school’s fees page sets out what is payable. The school encourages families to visit before deciding.
Schools nearby
Where students go next
Based on home zones around the school’s own address. Families can apply to any school, and your own address decides which zones you are in.
In Avenal
St John's Girls' School (Invercargill) is in Avenal. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Avenal guide →Questions parents ask
Is St John's Girls' School (Invercargill) zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of West Invercargill, Otatara, Awarua, Seaward Bush, Lorneville, Waverley, Avenal, Mill Road, Richmond, Kew, Makarewa, Windsor, Grasmere, Strathern, Clifton, Hawthorndale, Georgetown Invercargill, Myross Bush Invercargill, Waihopai, Waikiwi, Heidelberg, Kingswell, Gladstone, Appleby, Newfield, Tisbury, Rockdale Invercargill, Invercargill Central, Wallacetown near Invercargill, Ascot, Rosedale, Hargest, Glengarry, Kennington, Prestonville Invercargill, Tussock Creek near Invercargill, Greenhills, Sandy Point, Omaui, Tiwai Point, Bluff, Ocean Beach, Motu Rimu and West Plains and parts of Woodend and Woodlands near Invercargill.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 8.
How many students go there?
126 at 1 Sep 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?
417. 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.
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, 22 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Home zone: Ministry of Education enrolment zones (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).