Intro to schools orienteering

Orienteering and rogaining are provided by many New Zealand schools, but it may be presented differently in different regions and for different ages. While there may be some difference in how the sports are delivered to students, all the basics outlined in our Intro to Orienteering and Intro to Rogaining apply.

On this page we’ll briefly outline what orienteering may look like from a typical school perspective.

If you are a teacher-in-charge, manager, student, parent or coach looking for more information and advice on how to improve your school team’s experience, check out the Schools Knowledge Hub.

Schools Knowledge Hub

Year 7&8

At these ages, orienteering is presented as part of the school curriculum and competitions are also available. These ages straddle exclusive year 7&8 events and the secondary schools events, many of which offer year 7&8 grades.

Exclusive year 7&8 events include one-off zone and inter-zone competitions like in many other sports and also AIMS Games annually held in Tauranga.

For secondary school events that also cater for year 7&8s, see the section below.

Year 6 and younger

At these ages, orienteering is presented as part of the school curriculum. Because the sport takes some expertise to run, it is common for schools to arrange external help from a local club to provide the sessions, at least until a teacher has enough experience to run the sessions on their own. Even if a teacher is running the sessions, there are reasons to utilise help from a local club to keep maps up to date and to borrow checkpoints and timing equipment from.

Year 9 and older

At these ages, there is a national structure that schools in all regions align themselves to. There will be a regional schools championships, North Island and South Island Championships, and a National Championships. There are no qualification requirements for these events – they are available for students of any school and have grades to cater for less experienced orienteers.

North Island, South Island and National Championships will move location from year to year, but are typically held at the same time of year. The island championships are usually held in the term 1 holidays and the National Championships are usually held in the term 2 holidays.

Dates of championship rogaines may be different each season.

In terms of local events, every region is different, but there are things to look out for in your region:

  • Schools sprint series – a series of after school urban sprint races, often very early in the school year.
  • Regional championships in long (forest/farm orienteering), sprint distance, and relay.
  • Regional rogaine championships.
  • Club events happening on the weekends.
    • The bulk of the orienteering opportunities available will likely be in the form of club events, which are open to anyone.
    • The dates of club events are often planned with the school events in mind to provide opportunities for students to practise leading up to the major schools events.
    • In most regions, clubs will offer both orienteering and rogaining events.
  • Club events over the summer holidays.
    • These provide some low key orienteering that can be leveraged by school teams to introduce new orienteers and refresh orienteers returning from the previous year so that the team can hit the ground running early in term 1.
    • Although organising students before term 1 starts comes with some challenges, it is a playbook used by many schools with thriving orienteering teams.

Further involvement with clubs

There are many opportunities for students beyond participating in schools events. The club orienteering season typically starts in March and goes through to October. Many school teams will have a strong connection to a club through parents, mangers or coaches and will continue supporting the school team’s attendance at club events, even after the major school events have concluded. Furthermore, clubs offer coaching from more experienced orienteers, access to end of year training camps, and competitive and social connections across school lines.

The Schools Knowledge Hub can provide further suggestions here.

Representative teams

Every year, a team to represent New Zealand is selected to travel to Australia and compete against the Australian state teams. The competition, know as the Southern Cross Challenge, takes place in late September or early October. Check ONZ news and emails for information regarding this competition and selections.

World Schools Orienteering Championships is another international competition that New Zealand teams can travel to. Selection for this competition is more complicated, and the process usually starts with prior planning and leadership from a motivated manager or coach. Ask your team’s manager or coach if World Schools is something your team should be considering.