Who We Are

We Share Information About Who We Are, Our History and How We Operate at The National School of Aesthetics

We are committed to helping you make an informed choice on your tertiary education provider. The information in this section will hopefully help you understand who we are, what we do, how we are run, our vision and the high standard of training we provide to our ākonga / students. Our site contains the majority of information we have in our paperwork and we have provided this to give you as much information as possible.

Our Purpose

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, The National School of Aesthetics (Te Kura Whakaoho ā Roto ā Waho) aspires to provide quality training of a practical and theoretical nature to allow our ākonga / students to:

  • Obtain formal tertiary qualification(s) at levels 4 and 5 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, whether to a nationally recognised or international standard, in beauty therapy, nail technology, spa therapies, paramedical beauty therapies, and / or associated therapies; and
  • Competently perform the duties and services of their specialised areas, with a strong understanding of the related underpinning knowledge, to the highest industry-required standards possible.

Our Code of Ethics

Be friendly and give courteous service to all, retaining your dignity under all circumstances. Do not show favouritism but treat all clients honestly and fairly. Respect their feelings and rights. Be tactful. Let others know you are dependable by keeping your word and fulfilling your obligations.

Set an example in your conduct. Listen when others speak for they too have their viewpoints. Cherish your reputation. Learn to talk intelligently about your work. Show pride in your skills. Keep faith with your profession. Develop empathy.

Do not indulge in questionable practices. Extravagant claims and false promises diminish you as a person and cast an unfavourable light upon your profession and your teachers as well as the entire beauty industry.

Show appreciation for the efforts of others and be tolerant of their shortcomings. Be willing to learn all you can about your profession and develop your physical, mental, and spiritual qualities to the fullest.

Strive to become the best.

© Copyright 1985 – 2023 Aesthetics House Limited. No unauthorised use permitted.

Our Mihi

Thanks to Miles Kau Kau, our former kaumatua, for sharing this mihi with us.

Tēnā Koutou Katoa.
Welcome everyone.

Ko te mihi tuatahi, ki te Atua. Nāna nei nga mea katoa.
The first greeting is to God, the creator of all things.

Ko te mihi tuarua ki a Ranginui raua ko Paptuanuku. Tēna kō.
Greetings to our sky father and earth mother.

Ko te mihi tuatoru ki te whare e tū nei. Tēnā koe.
Greetings to the buildings.

Ko ti mihi ki nga mate katoa. Haere, haere, haere.
To those who have passed on: “Rest in Peace;” return to our ancestors.

Ki a tatou katoa e tau nei.
To those of us assembled here, welcome.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

© Copyright 2006-2023 Miles Kau Kau. Reprinted with his kind permission here. No unauthorised use permitted.

Our History

From humble beginnings in the suburbs of Christchurch on 3 July 1985, the National School of Aesthetics outgrew the original premises in just six months. A move to the centre of the city was required very early into our history. The school also was registered with ITEC in 1985 and fully-registered in 1986.

In 1988, the school spread into adjoining suites and was utilising 1,800 square feet of floor space. This proved to be too cramped, and, later in the same year we took an area comprising two floors, a total area of 5,500 square feet. By the end of 1993, the school occupied three floors. At over 12,000 square feet, the school was the largest in New Zealand. In 1990, we were privileged to have the first ITEC Honours graduate in the country and to be the first NZQA-Registered Beauty Therapy school in New Zealand.

At the end of 1994, the school consolidated its operations, and the move was made to Sun Alliance Building, on Hereford Street. We occupied prime space on the top and penthouse floors. It was in Sun Alliance Building that the school first gained ITEC JAMES-Accreditation, placing the school within the top 5% of ITEC schools world-wide.

In 1997, the move was made to Amuri Park to try and get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Christchurch. We originally occupied all of the first floor of Unit 7 after spending two years in the ground floor of Unit 6. The grounds were lush, quiet and private.

Slowly but surely, we started needing more space again, and we started to lease space on the ground floor as it became available. Finally, in 2007, we took over the entire unit. This saw the construction of our new spa classroom facilities and clinic, and the addition of the Diploma in Spa Therapies to our courses.

Unit 7 held strong during the 4 September 2010 7.1 earthquake, the 22 February 2011 6.3 aftershock, and every aftershock in between and beyond, until two strong aftershocks on 13 June 2011 damaged the external decorative concrete panels. Her contemporary units, especially Unit 8, did not perform as well.

The building’s owners decided to demolish it along with her contemporaries.

A new campus emerged from the aftermath.

We found a modern warehouse unit with offices out the front and transformed it into a purpose-built classroom facility. The 1,200+ square meters in our new premises houses 6 practical rooms line a large corridor leading into the Great Hall, a large multi-purpose room for lounging, studying and learning. Another corridor leads from the classroom section into the office section, which also houses the lecture room. Wireless internet is available for staff and ākonga / students alike.

Industry visitors from New Zealand and around the world have remarked our premises are “world-class” and “leading-edge”.

Although originally a partnership, the National School of Aesthetics is now a registered company, Aesthetics House Limited. The two original founders remain on the Board of Directors for Aesthetics House and still play active, day-to-day roles in the school routine.

The services offered to our ākonga / students are of high standard and are borne from a desire of the Directors to provide an environment in which they themselves would be happy to participate in as an ākonga / student. This notion is coupled with a desire to charge realistic fees for our training, and from our inception to the present day, our training has remained the least expensive of any of the schools in New Zealand offering recognised training to an International standard.

In 2002, the National School of Aesthetics received AS/NZS ISO 9001:2000 Accreditation, which means the standard of the Quality Management Systems meet the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard. The accreditation was given after minimal corrections and granted for a period of three years: relatively unheard of in ISO 9001:2000 accreditation!

In 2004, the strong QMS also rotated our school to a three-year audit cycle with NZQA, the highest audit cycle (as of December 2003, under 10% of all private providers were on a three-year audit cycle; our auditor believed about 3% of PTEs in September 2004 were on a three-year audit cycle). We achieved another three-year audit cycle in 2007.

Our 2008 TEC Baseline Monitoring Report (BMR) showed our results against standard key performance indicators (KPIs) were 2 to 3 times higher than the average.

In 2013, the New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Professionals awarded our owners, Noel Turner and Don Kendall, the “Contribution to the Industry” award for their “significant contribution to the development of the beauty therapy industry in New Zealand.” This is similar to the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars.

Also in 2013, NZQA held their first External Evaluation and Review at the National School of Aesthetics and stated they were “highly confident” in NaSA’s educational outcomes and capacity for self-assessment. As of August 2013, we were the only beauty therapy provider in the South Island, and one of three New Zealand-wide, to gain this highest rating.

The 2015-16 New Zealand Beauty Therapist of the Year was a NaSA graduate.

In the 2017-18 New Zealand Beauty Therapy Awards, 26% of the finalists and 40% of the winners in the 2017-18 Beauty Awards were NaSA graduates. 2 of the 3 finalists for the New Zealand Beauty Therapist of the Year were NaSA graduates, and the winner of 2017-18 New Zealand Beauty Therapist of the Year was a NaSA graduate. (We only get about 5% of the beauty education funding in New Zealand.)

In 2017, the New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Professionals inducted our owners, Noel Turner and Don Kendall, into the Beauty Therapy Hall of Fame.

In 2021, the New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Professionals bestowed on our owners, Noel Turner and Don Kendall, honourary lifetime memberships in the Association due to their lifelong dedication to strong training and standards in the industry.

All these monitoring bodies felt that our institution had “a strong learner focus” and a strong eye for quality: something we’ve strived to keep since that fateful day we opened in 1985.

Our Premises

For photos of our campus, click here for our School Photographs page.

Our main working areas are divided into separate practical classrooms painted white with either dark grey carpeting or light grey vinyl. Bright red doors lead from each classroom into a spacious corridor where a 6 sink bench unit stands to one side of the corridor. A changing room with a large mirror sits opposite the sink bench unit.

The rooms are bright and private, with music piped through to each room. The music volume can be controlled for each individual room, depending on the subject being taught. We have obtained state-of-the-art electrical equipment to teach the electrical components of the beauty therapy syllabus.

The main feature of our premises is the Great Hall. This is a two-storey open area with wireless internet access, tables and chairs, cubby holes for storage, and two TVs. It also has mood lighting available, and we use the Great Hall for everything from lectures to studying to breaks.

The lecture room is housed in the office section of the building. It normally holds 24 ākonga / students, with 2 ākonga / students at each table. The interactive whiteboard is hooked up to the internet and network, and DVDs, videos, music, PowerPoint presentations and more can be accessed on the interactive whiteboard. Anatomical models are also housed in the lecture room.

Both national and international visitors have commented on the modern premises and rate ours amongst not only the best in the country but also the best in the world. Ākonga / students are provided with background music, modern décor and plenty of opportunities that they might not receive at other schools.

Our Registrations and Accreditations

The National School of Aesthetics is:

  • Registered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under the provisions of the Education and Training Act 2020 and subsequent amendments as a private training establishment and has been since NZQA’s inception in 1990;
  • Approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under the provisions of the Education and Training Act 2020 and subsequent amendments to offer the following New Zealand qualifications and programmes:
    • New Zealand Certificate in Nail Technology (Level 4) [NZ3443]
    • New Zealand Certificate in Beauty Therapy (Level 4) [NZ3444]
    • New Zealand Diploma in Beauty Therapy (Level 5) [NZ3445]
    • New Zealand Certificate and Diploma in Beauty Therapy (Level 5) [CO3691]
  • Accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under the provisions of the Education and Training Act 2020 and subsequent amendments to provide education and training in the aforementioned qualifications and programmes and in the standards in the beauty therapy and cosmetology domains of the National Qualifications Framework;
  • Registered and accredited by the International Therapy Examination Council to train ākonga / students in various therapy qualifications created and maintained by ITEC.

New Zealand Qualifications Authority External Evaluation and Review Reports About Us

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority undertakes an External Evaluation and Review (EER) exercise every four years. You can read our EER reports here (they will open in a new window from the NZQA Web site):

Our International Registrations

Our school remains the oldest beauty therapy school in New Zealand to offer industry-recognised, major international qualifications. These major qualifications, according to the New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Practitioners’s Web site, are ITEC, CIBTAC and CIDESCO.

The National School of Aesthetics has been registered with ITEC since 1985. In 1997, ITEC awarded our institution with JAMES-Accreditation, making it the eighth ITEC school in the world (out of the then-500-odd ITEC schools world-wide) to gain this prestigious award. JAMES-Accreditation, for those who are unaware of this system, was awarded to the top 5% of ITEC schools world-wide. We remain one of the top ITEC schools in Australasia for excellent results and professional candidates, and we are highly-regarded by all these international governing bodies due to our extremely high pass rates.

Equal Opportunity Employment Statement

The school will be fair in all areas of employment. The school does not discriminate on the basis of colour, creed, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or cultural beliefs. Disability will be considered as long as it does not preclude the employee from performing his/her assigned tasks and does not endanger the health and safety of other employees, ākonga / students and visitors.