Last updated October 2026
James Hargest College is a state, co-educational secondary school for Years 7 to 13 at 282 Layard Street, Invercargill. It opened in 2005 and had 1,885 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes 15 suburbs in full and parts of 9 more, among them Waihopai, Lorneville, Wallacetown, Waverley, West Plains and Myross Bush; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school runs on two campuses, a junior campus for its youngest students with its own specialist teachers and a senior campus, and has a learning support centre called Whare Manaaki. Its website covers sport, performing arts, clubs, camps and education outside the classroom, and it takes international students, with homestay, ESOL and a buddy scheme.
At a glance
- Principal
- Anna McDowall
- Address
- 282 Layard Street, Invercargill
- Phone
- 03 217 6129
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Lorneville, Makarewa, Windsor, Grasmere, Myross Bush Invercargill, Waihopai, Waikiwi, Gladstone, Rosedale, Hargest, Prestonville Invercargill, Waverley, Wallacetown near Invercargill, Avenal and West Plains.
Parts of Otatara, Mill Road, Tussock Creek near Invercargill, Woodlands near Invercargill, Ascot, Dacre near Invercargill, Glengarry, West Invercargill and Richmond: 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.
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 1,885 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
24 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.
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 May 2023.
ERO noted that the college is the governing school for the Murihiku Young Parents Learning Centre and manages the Invercargill Activity Centre. It found a well-established habit of inquiry and evaluation among staff, collaborative leadership focused on improvement, and good support for students, including Māori and Pacific learners, in both learning and wellbeing.
ERO and the school agreed to look at how the review of the school’s curriculum is building students’ engagement and their ownership of their learning.
Next, the school plans to keep building the systems behind curriculum development, wellbeing and engagement, to grow teachers’ knowledge of mātauranga Māori with a focus on Murihiku, and to deepen its partnerships with whānau, parents and the wider community.
Read the ERO reports for James Hargest College
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone are entitled to enrol, and the school may ask for proof of address. Out-of-zone places are offered under the enrolment scheme. Each year the board works out how many places it expects to have and advertises them in the local paper with a closing date.
When there are more out-of-zone applicants than places, a ballot is held, with priority going first to siblings of current students, then siblings of former students, children of former students and children of board employees. The zone boundaries and a zone map are on the school’s Zones page.
Schools nearby
In Hargest
James Hargest College is in Hargest. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Hargest guide →Questions parents ask
Is James Hargest College zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Lorneville, Makarewa, Windsor, Grasmere, Myross Bush Invercargill, Waihopai, Waikiwi, Gladstone, Rosedale, Hargest, Prestonville Invercargill, Waverley, Wallacetown near Invercargill, Avenal and West Plains and parts of Otatara, Mill Road, Tussock Creek near Invercargill, Woodlands near Invercargill, Ascot, Dacre near Invercargill, Glengarry, West Invercargill and Richmond.
What years does it teach?
Years 7 to 13.
How many students go there?
1,885 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?
445. 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.
How did its school leavers do in NCEA?
In 2025, 82.6% of its school leavers had NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with 77.8% of all New Zealand school leavers.
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). Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.