Television and Film

Te pouaka whakaata me te kiriata

St Andrew's boasts New Zealand’s sole fully professional television and digital media studio and control room complex within a secondary school. Equipped with cameras, lights, editing gear, and a 32-channel sound desk, this creative hub enables students to conceive, rehearse, and execute live television productions right on campus. Broadcasting extends across the school and remote locations, offering students a thrilling taste of live broadcasts. This multifaceted space integrates various communication platforms, fostering creativity among students passionate about the arts or intrigued by production’s practical and technical aspects.

Our vision

Our aim is to provide opportunities to learn industry standards of technical and production skills using our state-of-the-art Media facilities and industry professionals, whilst emphasising discipline, teamwork, leadership and problem solving, as well as the production of a finished product.

Our Media Studies distinction

Each year around 300 students from Year 9 to Year 13 experience the TV and Media Studio via our Film and Broadcasting Academy and Media Studies curriculum. Media Studies at St Andrew’s College differs from other schools, with the distinction being our students are not only studying media as an academic exercise – they’re also creating it in real life.

Most schools teach Media Studies as a theoretical English subset. While St Andrew’s College aligns our Media Studies programmes closely with the NCEA Media Studies curriculum, the incredible facility and resources available to us means our programme sits firmly in the arts space where advanced technology allows our students to develop practical and creative skills to produce content that can be communicated across multiple platforms.

Hands-on experience

Our students have an opportunity to compete in the 48-Hour Film Festival alongside other student groups and professionals from around Aotearoa. Having our students work alongside professionals in this exciting and fast-paced guerrilla filmmaking competition, provides real-world experience that cannot be taught from a book. St Andrew’s College is proud to provide practical hands-on training that gives students a phenomenal head start when they leave the College.

Broadcast training

Many students who want to pursue a career in broadcasting come to St Andrew’s because we are the only College in New Zealand which has a professional production studio and control room complex. Our Year 12 Production and Year 13 Broadcasting course, along with opportunities as part of our Media Tech crew, aims to provide plenty of opportunities for students to develop valuable production and technical skills.

Many St Andrew’s students, whose passion for TV performance and production was sparked at the College, have gone on to great things within the industry in New Zealand and overseas. Those inside the industry say students who have had used our Creative Space have a definite advantage with knowledge and experience in line with older students who are well-advanced in professional broadcasting courses.

Student interviewing teachers in the tv studio.

Film and Broadcasting Academy

The Film and Broadcasting Academy is for students keen to work in and around our unique Television and Media Studio, either because they enjoy it, or have a media or performance career in mind. Students who join the co-curricular Academy will have an opportunity to support studio productions, filmmaking and manage technical and production support for a wide range of events.

The Academy encourages the art of performance on camera and stage, of directing and producing TV shows and films, managing technical roles in the studio, shooting and editing a film, crewing an outside broadcast, and providing technical support for College productions, Dance Revue, chapel services, assemblies and other events. The group also runs the College’s Film Fest and the annual Prizegiving show at the Wolfbrook Arena.

Technical Media Crew

The Technical Media Crew are our dedicated technical and production team that manages the AV for events around the school. This includes chapel services, assemblies, and all major events, such as Athletic Sports Day, Founders’ Day, and even our annual six-camera Prizegiving production.

To join this team, students must be dedicated, flexible with time, and have a passion for the technical side of audio and visual equipment.

Media Studies in the classroom

Year 9 Media class

Our unique Year 9 Media course sees students spend a semester working in our multi-camera TV Studio, where they can embrace the various technical and production roles to design and produce original live television shows. Some students demonstrate leadership skills as producers, directors, and floor managers. A number of industry professionals have started their careers in our unique studio environment.
Year 10 Media class

This course builds on skills developed during our Year 9 course. Students learn more field-based practical skills to produce a variety of media content such as advertisements, trailers, and short films, as well as continuing to develop their technical and production skills. Some of the students build on their Year 9 experience while others are learning the ‘art’ for the first time.
Year 12 Media Studies

This is our core Media Studies course at Year 12 and is for those whose interests lie in the study and production of short film. Students write, plan, and produce their own short film, before studying a film genre.
Year 13 Media Studies

This course is for serious media and film enthusiasts; those who might be planning a career in film, or who are simply very good filmmakers. There are high expectations of students as they learn how meaning is created and interpreted by an audience before planning, writing, and producing their own media product. Students will use our professional equipment and editing software to produce their short films.