YEAR 11 OPTIONS

This exciting course is all about exploring your creativity and building real-world skills. You’ll dive into hands-on projects inspired by diverse cultural perspectives, including Māori and Pākehā artists, and learn how to visually communicate your ideas with confidence.

Through drawing, painting, and mixed media, you'll strengthen technical skills, grow your visual literacy, and express your unique voice. Art is more than making – it's about problem-solving, storytelling, and self-discovery. You’ll complete a workbook and portfolio that can lead to further opportunities in Painting, Design, Photography, or Multimedia in Year 12 and beyond.

Whether you're keen on a creative future or simply want a subject that lets you think differently, Year 11 Art opens doors—and minds.

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to key commercial concepts, including business operations, marketing, financial decision-making, and economic principles.

Students will have the opportunity to explore real-world business scenarios through engaging class discussions and practical activities. 

Students will have the chance to start their own business and showcase their products at a market day, providing hands-on experience in entrepreneurship and business management. Students will also participate in the BP Business Challenge, where they will develop their teamwork and problem-solving skills while tackling real-life business challenges.

A total of 20 credits is available in this course.

As an embodied language, dance has its own literacy. In Dance, ākonga process and demonstrate their thinking through movement. Students will learn about dance as a vehicle for creating, forming, exploring, and sustaining relationships with self, others, and the environment. Dance enables learners to engage with, and value, diverse cultures and ideas. Dance empowers learners to recognise the diversity of Aotearoa and build connections across cultures. Dance involves learning to use choreographic processes and performance practices. Through these ākonga will explore, select, refine, practice, reflect, synthesise, and edit while learning in, about, and through dance.

There are 20 credits available in this course.

Get ready to create, code, and problem-solve your way through the digital world!

Year 11 Digital Technology at Rautāwhiri is a hands-on, high-energy course where you’ll design real digital outcomes — from building your own website and coding interactive programs or games, to exploring interface design, robotics, and even 3D printing.

Along the way you’ll learn how algorithms work, practise computational thinking, test and refine your ideas, and make smart design decisions like a real developer.

You’ll also earn around 20 NCEA credits in an approved university subject, building the core digital and creative skills that lead straight into Year 12 and Year 13 pathways — and beyond into the tech world.

If you’re curious, inventive, or just love figuring out how things work, this is your launchpad.

Ka haere tātou!

Ākonga learn through the practical embodiment of roles and situations. They explore the purpose of drama and theatre in their own, and other, communities and how it expresses culture. They consider the function of drama to heal, to educate, to transform, and to entertain society. 

In Drama, students learn to work individually and collaboratively to construct meanings, produce works, and respond to and value others’ contributions. They learn to use imagination to engage with unexpected outcomes and explore multiple solutions. They will develop increasing control and confidence to communicate effectively.

There are 20 credits available in this course.

The course objective is to provide ākonga with a deeper understanding of career pathway planning identifying specific opportunities needed to pursue individual career development. Planning appropriate work and life goals, time management strategies and utilising the various sources of information for research to career planning is critical.

Ākonga taking this course will have the opportunity to develop skills such as identifying their interests, researching appropriate study options, and using effective communication both written and verbal.

There are 23 Unit Standard credits in this course.

This course is your launchpad into the world of fashion, textiles, and creative innovation. You’ll explore how textiles impact the world we live in — from what we wear to how we decorate and care for our homes. With a strong focus on eco-conscious design, Mātauranga Māori, and real-world problem solving, you’ll work through the technological process to create stylish, sustainable, and purpose-driven products.

This is not just about following patterns — it's about pushing boundaries, challenging fast fashion, and using textile design to express identity, solve problems, and inspire change.

Choose from a range of exciting design contexts — such as:

• Fashion forward (e.g. sustainable designs, wearable messages)

• Eco homeware (e.g. reusable kitchen textiles, sleep wellness kits)

• Upcycled creations

• Accessories and personal items

Leads to pathways into fashion design, interior textiles, costume, sustainable product development, industrial design, and material science.

If you love being hands-on in the kitchen and want to turn your passion for food into practical skills, this course is for you! Blending Food Technology and Hospitality, you’ll learn everything from safe food handling and kitchen hygiene to designing and preparing delicious, creative dishes.

Explore different cultures through food, take on exciting cooking challenges, and develop your own food products that are both tasty and purposeful.

You’ll gain valuable skills in food testing, presentation, and time management—perfect preparation for Year 12 Food and future opportunities in the food and hospitality industries.

"Food Technology is a recognised subject that leads to further study in health, nutrition, and hospitality."

Geography Is the study of te taiao and the Interconnections within. Geography is the study of our planet, our home. It explores the natural environment, the patterns and processes that created it, and how people connect to that environment, and looks at issues that affect the cultural, economic and political spheres of our lives.

Ākonga learn to think spatially, to use maps, visual images, statistics, and other data, and to use inquiry processes to obtain, present and analyse information. Through geographic thinking they develop understandings related to patterns, processes, relationships, interactions, and change.

A total of 20 credits are available in this course.

In this course ākonga will explore Hauora in relation to individuals, whānau and communities and to explore the interconnection between physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. 

Students will develop an understanding of Hauora through the study of Health Models and the practical application of Hauora enhancing strategies. They will also study the impact of decision-making on Hauora from a personal, interpersonal and societal perspective. 

There are 20 credits are offered in this course.

In this course, ākonga will explore local, national, and global contexts to critically engage with historical people, places, and events. We explore cause and effect, as well as the continuity, and change of historical narratives over time. In an Aotearoa New Zealand context, History allows ākonga to nurture a growing awareness of Te Tiriti o Waitangi — its provisions, values, and ongoing relevance. 

History presents ākonga with the dilemmas, choices, and beliefs of people in the past. They will draw from key concepts such as mana, tūrangawaewae and whakapapa to examine actions and events in the past that have been significant to whānau, hapū, iwi, and communities within Aotearoa New Zealand.

There are 20 credits available in this course.

Level 1 Horticulture provides students with opportunities to investigate the life processes of plants and how they are managed in primary production, the relevance of primary production to people, location, environment and sustainability and practical experiences of growing plants. 

During this course students will develop plant propagation techniques such as sowing seeds, planting out or potting on seedlings, making cuttings, grafting plants, maintaining propagation tools and understanding plant management practices related to plant physiology.

There are 11 Achievement Standard and 15 Unit Standard credits available in this course

Dive into the dynamic world of law and order with our Legal Studies course. Designed to provide a foundational understanding of New Zealand's legal system, this course covers a range of topics including litigation, dispute resolution, justice, law, democracy and government. Through engaging class discussions, real-life case studies, guest speakers in law and a trip to the Rotorua District Court, students will develop critical thinking and analytical skills essential for understanding, and navigating legal matters.

This course equips students with practical knowledge and skills relevant to everyday life. Whether you're considering a career in law or simply interested in how the legal system affects you, this course offers a comprehensive and stimulating introduction to the field of legal studies.

There are 20 unit standard credits are available for this course.

In this course, students will experience the creative process of music as an individual and in collaboration with others. They will start to understand the symbols and signs within the language of music and as they develop skills of the craft, reflect on how music projects contribute to communities. Itinerant lessons are a compulsory part of this course. 

Participating in music enhances personal wellbeing. Students can start to understand how learning music can contribute to future study and work pathways across a wide range of areas, including the arts and media, business, community services, education, social sciences, and technology. 

There are 20 credits available in this course.

Year 11 Photography and Design is a dynamic course that builds creative confidence, digital fluency, and visual literacy. Students use and expand on the skills developed in Year 10—such as animation, illustration, character design, and mixed media—to further explore their creative passions.

Through hands-on learning with DSLR cameras and Adobe software, students create original, concept-driven work inspired by both Māori and Pākehā artists and designers. Projects include photographic series, digital posters, and visual storytelling, all supported by a visual diary and portfolio.

Students are encouraged to drive their own learning, developing ideas that reflect their interests, identity, and cultural perspectives.

This course also strengthens essential skills for creative industries, including communication, time management, and critical thinking.

Leads to:

Year 12 Art Painting and/or Design – Illustration & Animation, Photography and Multimedia, or Photography and Design.

This course provides students with opportunities to learn in, through, and about movement. Students will take part in a course which focuses on developing understanding of movement contexts and the moving body, as well as the ways that movement can influence Hauora, enrich lives, and support the development of diverse capabilities. Students will also develop their understanding of sport and physical activity through the study of sociocultural, biophysical and te ao Māori concepts and their application to movement.

There are 20 credits available in this course.

In Physical Activity Outdoors students will develop their understanding of Physical Activity in relation to Hauora, with a focus on connection to the natural environment. Students will develop personal fitness and wellbeing, as well as specific skills and understandings in relation to being active outdoors, such as safety management, interpersonal and leadership skills, and te ao Māori concepts in relation to te taiao. 

There are 25 unit standard credits available in this course.

Level One Science provides students with a broad foundation in scientific knowledge and skills, with a focus on local and contemporary issues. The course explores key scientific concepts and develops students’ ability to communicate scientific ideas effectively. Areas of study include the environmental impacts of human activity, the interactions between organisms and their environment, and physical investigations within relevant contexts.

There are 15 credits available in this course.

Senior Social Studies introduces students to foundational concepts in social and cultural studies. The course emphasises understanding contemporary social issues, exploring identity and culture, and examining the ways societies organise themselves. 

In this course, students engage in critical thinking, research, and discussion, learning to analyse information and present their findings. This level provides a base for understanding the complexities of society, fostering skills in analysis, evaluation, and effective communication, which are crucial for higher levels of education and active citizenship.

There are 20 credits are available in this course.

Te Ao Haka is a culturally responsive art form, providing opportunities for all ākonga to engage in Māori culture, language and traditional practice. Te Ao Haka is founded on traditional knowledge, but is progressive in the development and evolution of the art form.

In this course ākonga discover, identify, access, and explore foundational knowledge and ideas in and about Te Ao Haka. 

There are 15  to 20 credits available in this course.

Te Reo Māori is the key to understanding the Māori world. Te Reo Māori lays the foundation of communicative skills and cultural knowledge to enable students to be bilingual and bicultural with an appreciation and consideration of a Māori worldview.

In this course students will apply a range of written and communicative skills in a variety of contexts that will enable them to express their thoughts in Te Reo Māori with accuracy, fluency, cultural integrity and gain an understanding of language revitalisation.

There are 15  to 20 credits available in this course