Classes at Bethlehem College are taught in English. This means that it’s important that your child can cope with the demands of studying language-rich subjects, like English and History. As part of the application process, we test the language levels of all prospective students. To gain entry to Bethlehem College Secondary, your child will need to speak and understand a reasonable level of the English language.

Once accepted to Bethlehem College, we encourage students to prepare for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), which is the national qualification system for New Zealand's Senior Secondary students. You can find out more about NCEA and our country’s educational qualifications on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) website.

Our Academic Dean will be available to help students in Years 10-13 select the right subjects for their academic goals.  You can see what's on offer for students in Years 9-13 by heading to SchoolPoint.

We regularly keep families informed of your student's progress.  Copies of all reports are sent to agents, parents and local caregivers (homestay or designated caregivers). Academic school reports are completed in Terms 2 and 4.  International students in Years 7-13 receive an additional progress report in Term 1. For students in Years 10-13, we provide a Deans' report in Terms 2 and 4, which provides feedback from our Academic Dean and Pastoral Dean, as well as comments from our Homestay Manager for those students not living with their parent.  

We love to see our students continue on to tertiary education, so we offer NCEA Level 2 University Entrance literacy as part of the Year 13 International course. Many of our international students enrol with the intention of continuing their studies at a tertiary level.  We support this goal by helping with course planning and ongoing academic support to ensure students have the best opportunity for admission into their chosen tertiary programmes.