"Over the years we have developed an environment where it is ‘cool’ to do your best and to achieve your potential. The whole school has high belief of their expectations and students and staff actually enjoy coming to school." 

- Principal Nathan Villars

ACG Sunderland has cemented its reputation as West Auckland’s leading secondary school, following the recent release of Metro magazine’s Best Schools list.

According to Metro’s rankings, we are number one in West Auckland for University Entrance for all English-speaking schools. An outstanding 100% of our Year 13 students passed Cambridge A levels, resulting in an 84% university entrance pass rate, and we placed 13th across all of Auckland’s 96 secondary schools.

This is the second consecutive year ACG Sunderland is West Auckland’s top school according to Metro’s research, and Principal Nathan Villars attributes the first-class results to the nurturing, supportive environment and unwavering commitment of staff, families and students.

“Our success is due to both the high expectations from the school community and our excellent teachers, who go the extra mile for students, offering extra tutorials after school and in the holidays,” he said.

“Over the years we have developed an environment where it is ‘cool’ to do your best and to achieve your potential. The whole school has high belief of their expectations and students and staff actually enjoy coming to school. It’s fun, it’s caring and it’s inclusive.”

ACG Sunderland is the only school in West Auckland offering the complete Cambridge pathway from primary school to Year 13. Last year two of our students placed Top in the World for their outstanding Cambridge results.

Junheng (David) Li was New Zealand’s top IGCSE student for 2018, receiving a perfect score of 100% to place Top in World in IGCSE Mathematics. He also came Top in New Zealand in IGCSE Physics (98%) and first in the Best Across Five Cambridge award. Meanwhile fellow student Hengyang Li (Leo) was Top in World in IGCSE Design & Technology – the second Top in World result the school has received in Design & Technology in recent years.

In addition to exceptional academic achievements, we're also punching above our weight in arts, music and sport.

“Currently we are one of the top netball schools in West Auckland. We perform highly in badminton and basketball, and have students performing at top levels in a number of other sports such as diving and karate,” said Mr Villars.

“In other facets of school life, two school bands performed in the Smokefree Rockquest with one now through to the finals, and we have representatives at the Youth Parliament and Model United Nations.”

It’s a school that strives to develop confident, well-rounded young people who are well-equipped for the future.

“We're there for all students, not just top academics, where children have the opportunity to go beyond what they initially thought they were capable of,” he said.