The core components are really what make the IB distinctive from other qualifications.

The Extended Essay  offers the opportunity to investigate a topic of individual interest within a chosen subject, and acquaints students with the independent research and writing skills expected at university.

The interdisciplinary TOK offers students the opportunity to reflect critically on different ways of knowing and areas of knowledge, and to consider the role and nature of knowledge in their own culture, in the cultures of others and in the wider world. As a reflective inquiry into different ways of knowing, and into different kinds of knowledge, TOK is focused on a number of questions, the most central of these being: "How do we know a particular knowledge claim to be true?".

Participation in the school's CAS programme encourages students to be involved in artistic pursuits, sports and community service work, thus fostering students' awareness and appreciation of life outside the academic arena. Activities are divided into the areas of creativity (such as drama, public speaking, music or photography), action (sports, tramps) and service (community work). Many of these activities recognise what students are already doing in the school such as participation in the choir, sports teams, and the Young New Zealanders' Challenge (Duke of Edinburgh) scheme.