Elim Christian College

Overall, I quite like this school (Mt Albert Campus). I had 8 years of experience under my belt, from primary, middle school to high school. The teachers are very passionate about your subjects and really do want you to succeed. I credit a lot of my achievements to the persistence of many of the teachers there. I am not fond of many people there, especially almost my entire graduating class, but there are plenty of people who are genuinely good and deeply invested in their faith. I enjoyed hanging out with all the years below and upper up until I graduated. It's just sad because my experience got sullied by being in the one messed up year. Luckily there was no direct bullying, just exclusion. I just happened to be unlucky and couldn't find people who wanted to listen to what I want to say.

Elim is a decent school with an okay amount of options for its size. While most of the teachers and other staff are somewhat nice, many of them lack the necessary qualifications to teach students certain subjects such as English or science. I personally have found that I have had to do a lot of at home learning (with chatgpt) as my teachers have failed to properly educate the class. There are similar responses as well when asking my peers. There are also multiple questionable students (though most are nice enough) in which I begin to wonder how they managed to get in despite many promising applicants on the waiting list. Many of them display aspects such as sexism, racism, and just overall disrespect to a lot of people. Though I have also encountered numerous capable teachers as well as quite a few auspicious students.

Was a former student way back in the early 2000s having moved from mainstream school (Howick College) to Elim when I was year 12. Now that I'm much older I can say: Pros: - Elim is a safe space for learning and teaching. Bullying is unheard of, misbehaviour mild compared with state school. - Firm & inclusive school culture that can promote high achievements (academic, sporting & personal) and growth- if you are willing to work hard for it. -Good pastoral support, with lower teacher student ratio means more time for student-teacher discussions to take place. Cons: - the school can feel like a very insular greenhouse, cut off from the outside world and therefore lack the competitive rigour of a larger & more established state school. -Less resource, from the library to subject choices, materials, learning spaces and textbooks. The staff are dedicated and some even passionate about their subjects, but often they wear many different hats and lacks either relevant experience or resource to support learners. I got through NCEA L2 and L3 at Elim using the resource, study methods and experience learnt from Howick College. I had my ups and downs at Elim, but more importantly I really appreciate the support, dedication and encouragement from Elim staff. I did poorly at NCEA L1 when I was at Howick College. When I graduated from Elim, I gained a L3 scholarship.

out of the few schools i've been to, this was easily the WORST. i'm not even 18, and even i can tell that elim is a terrible school. students don't get taught proper sex education, they just get told to "not have sex" and the teachers expect that to be enough. students also get off the hook for homophobia and racism ALL THE TIME. teachers at this school aren't any better, being very open about their dislike for the LGBTQ+, refusing to mention gay people in their history classes in historic events they were involved in, or even mentioning gay people at all. i see a few people here excusing this school's homophobia and transphobia because "elim is a christian school with christian values". so i ask you, does that mean they can let their students and teachers completely annihilate their peers just for liking the same sex aka something they can't help? that's straight up ridiculous. homophobia and transphobia completely go against the "love your neighbors as you love yourself" rule that you hypocrites believe in anyways. students don't even get in trouble for calling someone a slur, just get let off with a warning. the christians here are also incredibly hateful towards anyone who's not christian. elim claims this school is open to anybody, christian or not, but then have a MASSIVE bias towards their christian students. non christians are treated like dirt and less than, while the christians are treated like star students that can do absolutely no wrong. elim is no way near as loving as they claim to be. if you are actually a good person with good values, you would not send any of your children anywhere near this place.

When it comes to writing this review i honestly don't know where to start. --------------> if you ask a student who as been going to this school their entire life and never had any experience in another school, even they would know how bad this school actually is. <---------------- let me start off with the teachers, i'm going to be honest and say that alot of these teachers actually suck (apart from the few teachers that i love and really respect, i am not thinking of them when i say the following things). They are completely biased and only care about their reputation to the rest of the world. I have plenty of examples of when these teachers have gaslighted kids, broke their own rules and have made biased decisions in many situations. Now with the students. I have a few friends here that i love and have learnt a lot from. But a lot of the students here are very witty . And there are also quite a few kids that vape and i wouldn't be surprised if there were people who did worse. otherwise the students here aren't too bad i know that the students can be a-lot worse in other places. But don't think thats this schools going to be totally different just because it's labeled christian. I know that most parents send their children here hoping for a christian education and to get their child closer to God but being here has honestly sometimes made me question some of the beliefs i have.

I think it's safe to say this school is not amazing. First of all, there are an extremely little about of option subjects. Second of all, teachers are bias to "mentally ill" children, and never listen to the other student's complaints. Third of all, there are 3 assemblies a week. This may not seem that bad, but trust me, it isn't fun to sit there cramped with your class listening to teachers scold us for littering. I think it's completely unfair how MANY of the teachers only listen to one side of the story. To the teachers, whoever is crying is the more vulnerable person in the situation, and they need "special attention." Just because someone isn't visibly hurting, doesn't mean you aren't hurting inside. And it makes the situation a whole lot worse when the teacher takes the other student's side and not yours, after not listening to your side of the story. Also, this so called "semi private" school is slowly turning into a public school. Students draw on the walls, blast loud music at lunch, get into full on fights, and so much more. And the worst part? The teachers scold EVERYONE for something only A FEW people are doing. It wastes time and makes students feel guilty for something they didn't even do. We could be doing something so much more productive. Next, recently our school had a fundraiser and raised about 42,000$ to buy us shade for our playground and stuff. Literally more than a term after this fundraiser took place, we're still sitting here, with NO shade. And what's worse, the shade is currently being built in the ONE place student's aren't allowed to go. How on earth does that work? Elim claims that they're a "christian" school, but there is no use saying that when a lot of the students run around swearing, joking about demons, and calling themselves atheists. Teaching us about Jesus does NOT mean that students are going to take in the information. Lastly, the education this school is providing us with is not relevant to what we'll need in the future. They are so worried about teaching us about "Aroha" and "kaitiakitanga," they forget to teach us about useful things we'll actually need when we're older. Like taxes, applying for jobs, etc. If you're looking to send your child to a school, based on my personal experience, for you and your child's sake, do not choose elim.

The school only care for their own reputation, teachers cannot be bothered to actually help out the students, all ever they do gaslight you even if you actually need help. This school could be so much better with good teachers, no teacher ever admits they are wrong and never says sorry. They don't think students have an opinion, or a mental health. They take in "problematic students" to up their reputation, but they don't care how a student is affecting another student, I am talking from experience. All the teachers only listen to one side of the story, not the actual problem. There are 3 assemblies every week, and they use all the money to pay their own bills and not to help the students. We're literally getting mentally DESTROYED and teachers cant care because all they need is their paycheck. The teachers are rubbish here, the students are rubbish here. None of us are disciplined, and you can basically get the same quality school at a public school. Teachers abuse their power, and they don't actually care what happens. I don't feel safe here at all. dont send your kids here.

3 assemblies is a form of bullying as it is a repetitive activity that causes discomfort.

I love elim but nobody in the school has touched grass since 2017

Do not go here!!!! You or your kids future will be destroyed! Hungry money making cult!

I actually really like Elim. From what I hear, all the kids who've moved schools say Elim's bullying is pretty much 0 compared to what they used to see and experience. Although the school is small, that means that most people know most people, and it's nice knowing who is who. Student culture is pretty inclusive naturally, and most students respect the Christian aspect of school even if they aren't Christian themselves. Assemblies 3 times a week is mid but that's alright. Most of the teachers nowadays are chill and down to Earth. School is gated off (Golflands) completely so there's little chance of escape during the day, especially with security cameras. Bathrooms are really clean compared to what I've seen at other schools. Overall, primary years are amazing, middle school is alright, high school is questionable but still not that bad compared to public school.

This is a great school with good education, you can do whatever you want basically. Girls vape in the bathroom and we all are on our phones and the teachers don't notice. It's a chill place but there are a few a holes. But apart from that it's a cool school. They have lunches every day that taste great, the staff can be very biased sometimes. They offer alot of sports, alot of drama but apart from that all up a good school.

I feel the school takes the school fees and don't discipline kids, they leave it all up to the parents albeit the child is at school during day not at home...they send a student home fir not following school rules, the child is already failing terribly as there is no appointed truancy officer..it was a very bad decision to move my daughter from Howick College to Elim Botany campus. I am a devoted Christian but feel more broken after this experience...just really disappointed ?

(100% honest review done by a student who's been there for several years) FYI started there in year 7 (2016), left in year 10 (2019) so have 4 years of experience, I have a couple friends at this school Honestly the way the school promotes themselves deceive you, it's displayed as a diversely accepting school with the goal of educating students not just in basic school subjects but getting closer to Jesus. Unfortunately I didn't get the experience that I would've liked. Teachers were incredibly self centered, disrespectful and obviously weren't passionate about their jobs, more so only focused on about taking your phone ??. First off, some of them spent most of the time speaking irrelevant information during class time, taking away precious project time that they were adamant in not giving back. Had a couple experiences of racism and total disregard to anything I had to say (basically shut off any ideas). They have a student voice system which is practically useless as the teachers only care about what they want, there is a total disconnect between students and teachers with an immediate shutdown from staff and faculty. Then they have the audacity to tell us when we talk in class "do you want us to treat you like adults or what??". Now students, I have made maybe a couple friends at this school who I'm still in contact with today. However most of the people here are obviously very sheltered and immature. If you don't agree with people there, you're often shunned and treated like an outcast. Majority of the racism and homophobia comes from the students, the very ones that scold you for saying anything remotely considered to be a "swear word". The school system and management was pretty poor to say the least. No structure in both curriculum and co-curriculars for the little few subjects available. Sporting events often had 1 practice session before an actual tournament, there the school is only shamed for having the most incompetent teams. Some subjects, the curriculum was changed multiple during year making the yearly planner absolutely useless. Personally I had a math's class where I received 5 different teachers that year. Goes to show the lack of qualification at this school. The school financial situation wasn't any better. Funds were only going to the church with little to nothing going to the school. For a school that has 13,000 students currently there charging $3,000 a year for a student, you'd think they'd have more funds to work with. Sure they need to pay the staff and faculty but still nothing is given to the students. Funds mostly go to the juniors at the golflands campus, giving them new science and technology classrooms and equipment where my year group got practically nothing. To sum things up, I would not recommend putting your child in this school. Personally it drove me away from Christianity (later returned to church on my own accords) which was sad to see as this school had so much potential, only for it to be thrown down the drain. I really tried to enjoy my time here and sometimes the only fun i'd have is with my mates but other than that, i'd come home wishing I wouldn't have to go into class the next day. I do believe that maybe one day this school will learn from its mistakes and put in more effort to make it what they propose this school to be. As of the time I left (2019) nothing has changed according to my mates and if anything has only gotten worse but that's for them to say. Giving this school a 1 star review is already generous enough, if there was an option for 0 then i'd definitely put that?

At my previous academy, I used to receive verbal and physical abuse from my teachers and I can say the teachers here at Elim are nothing like this at all. Although the downside to being a small school restricts a lot of subject choices, we still have the basics and the small numbers in class give teachers the ability to give every student attention, and follow up on where they are stuck. This is only my second year at Elim MAC campus, I was looking for a school where I could be normal and surround myself with friends who are kind and hold the same values. I was initially nervous to go to a new school but I can say that I easily welcomed! I have found the teachers to be supportive and helpful, one teacher who knows I have anxiety regularly checks up on me.

I think this school gets a lot of bad unjustified negative reviews. I've been to three other schools in my life and have experienced bullying in previous schools, but here at Elim, the community there is great and the people and very welcoming. I think parents should send their children to Elim to learn how to have good character. All my friends are amazing, kind thoughtful and there for me even when my social battery runs out, they comfort me. The community is great if you want your children to be away from extreme bullying and be surrounded by helpful cheerful students. I am not going to neglect some poor things at the school as this is an honest review. I love the school dearly and have been here for a while, but my only issue is the lack of wider subject ranges, and if they are offered they are offered through Te Kura. But I do not have a prejudice towards the school for this, I understand and know it is a small school, so you should have the background knowledge that not all subject options are available, unlike other schools. However, the subjects that are offered here at Elim are the key important subjects, and the teachers are not as 'bad' that other reviews may say. The teachers are actually really amazing and work with individual students that track behind to help them reach their academic goals. Most of the students I know do very well and follow along in classes well, the learning is effective and the teachers are encouraging. I have so many treasured memories in this school and would recommend parents to send their students to Elim, whether it be junior, middle or high school, it is a safe, hard-working and encouraging environment for children to grow up and learn in.

MAC campus is a great school. The teachers do care about the students and do their best to meet the individual needs of the students. Some of the teachers go above and beyond for their kids. There's a great community vibe and culture. They don't let you get away with anything but that's not really a bad thing. Academics are great.

The teachers are really homophonic and sexist. Like one time in social studies I said the word ‘gay’ and the teacher was like ‘no, no no.’ The teachers don’t deal with drama situations they just send it to the counsellor. I have on some occasions had teacher lie to me. Most of the good teachers left because they were anti vax and now we are stuck with the leftover teacher. Some teachers that stayed aren’t that bad but some are just a big no. The teachers are so oblivious to how students act during break times. The only decent part of this school is the counseller and the library.

This school is terrible, the teachers are racists, and they only care about the school's reputation rather than the mental health of the students. Don't bring your kids here.

MAC campus is the best, just face it.