Woodend is a town in the Waimakariri District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand.

It may have been named because it was on the edge of what was then called the Maori Bush, or after an early settler, Thomas Wooding.

[2] It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of central Christchurch, and is part of the city's metropolitan area.

It is a state co-educational full primary school[7] with a decile rating of 8 and a roll of 519 students (as of November 2024).

[8] Woodend is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a small urban area and covers 5.99 km2 (2.31 sq mi).

[9] A large subdivision called Ravenswood is being built on the northern edge of Woodend.

It is expected to eventually have 1500 homes built on it, significantly enlarging the town of Woodend.

[18] In September 2020, the traffic lights which had been promised by the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) in 2020 to make crossing State Highway One had been delayed.

[21] Its preferred solution is to build a new four-lane bypass which will join the current motorway at Lineside Road and run through to the entrance to Pegasus town.

[21] This proposed bypass has yet to be funded by the New Zealand government,[22][23][24] In March 2021, it was listed as an "on the horizon" project only in Canterbury’s draft Regional Land Transport Plan.