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Learning Opportunities

Being a relatively large primary school, we offer a huge range of learning opportunities across the curriculum areas for our ākonga/students.

Sport at Tahatai
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Tahatai Coast School provides a wide range of sporting opportunities for ākonga/students.  We have our annual cross-country, swimming and athletic Whare events, where the children can be chosen by placing in races to represent the school at cluster, Western Bay of Plenty and Bay of Plenty competitions.  During the year, ākonga/students have the opportunity to participate in many sporting events outside of the school. These include the Super Smash Cricket Festival, Basketball World Cup, WBOP Surfing Competition, Inter-School Amazing Race, Top Schools, Gymsport Festival and Rugby 5’s Tournament.   

Super Smash Cricket Festival

With our multipurpose sports turf, basketball court, beach volleyball court, netball courts and proximity to reserves and the beach, the children have many areas to practice and play sports within the school.       

The school encourages ākonga/students to try different sports without limiting them to one.  We aim to equip the ākonga with the necessary skills, attitudes, and motivation for personal well-being, community involvement, and individual sporting and cultural pathways.  

Extra Curricular Sports are also offered during term time, in after-school or weekend competitions.  Summer sports are held in Terms 1 & 2, and winter sports in Terms 3 & 4.  

The school also welcomes parent involvement in coaching or managing teams.  If you are interested in helping out, or have any sports related questions, please contact Sally Acker, our Sports Coordinator by email: [email protected] 

Sport Facilities

FInd ot more about our sporting facilties. Read more.

Extra Curricular Sports Information
Term 1
SPORT
YEARDAY SPORT IS PLAYEDVENUEINFORMATION
Rippa RugbyYr 1 - 6WednesdayArataki Park
Flippa Ball (mini waterpolo)Yr 3 - 6SundayPapamoa Primary School Pool
VolleyballYr 4 - 6Friday






Term 2 & 3
SPORTYEARDAY SPORT IS PLAYEDVENUEINFORMATION
Basketball
Yr 1 - 2
Monday Afternoons
Mercury arena

Basketball
Yr 3 - 4
Tuesday Afternoon
Mercury arena

Basketball
Yr 5 - 6
Friday Afternoons
Mercury arena

NetballYr 1 - 6Saturday Mornings & AfternoonsTauranga Netball Centre (cnr Maunganui & Hull Rds)
Hockey
Yr 1 - 2

Usually Tahatai
Hockey
Yr 3 - 4Saturday Mornings
Tauranga Hockey Centre (THC) Blake Park

Hockey
Yr 5 - 6Saturday Mornings
Tauranga Hockey Centre (THC) Blake Park






Term 4
SPORT
YEARDAY SPORT IS PLAYEDVENUEINFORMATION
Touch RugbyYr 1 - 6ThursdayGordon Spratt
Flippa Ball (mini waterpolo)Yr 3 - 6SundayPapamoa Primary School Pool
VolleyballYr 4 - 6FridayMercury Baypark





Sport Code of Conduct
FAIRPLAY CODE FOR PARENTS AT TAHATAI COAST SCHOOL
Good sport is about positive attitude. You can set the right tone and help make the game a success. Play your part-play fair. To the best of your ability you
YESNO
  • Let your child make decisions
  • Praise your child and cheer for everyone
  • Support the coach
  • Encourage your child
  • Let your child have fun
  • Behave as role models
  • Respect officials
  • Respect the opposition
  • Respect the umpire's decisions
  • Support the coaches decisions
  • Want your child to learn lessons from sport
  • Constantly shout
  • instructions
  • Criticise your child
  • Argue with the coach
  • Argue with opposition parents/ players
  • Disagree with the coaches decisions
  • Tell your child how to play
  • Want your child to win at all costs


THE FAIRPLAY CODE FOR COACHES AND MANAGERS AT TAHATAI COAST SCHOOL
Good sport is about positive attitude. You can set the right tone and help make the game a success. Play your part-play fair. To the best of your ability you will:
COACHMANAGER
  • Be a positive role model for the children and parents in your team in regard to language, behaviour and attitude.
  • Communicate effectively with your team manager.
  • Award a 'Player of the Day' per game if they are provided by the code.
  • Warm up the team before games
  • Hold practices.
  • Provide everyone in the team with fair game time over the course of the season.
  • Give respectful and constructive feedback to all players so that they can aim to improve both in confidence and skill.
  • Communicate effectively with the Sports Coordinator or Teacher in Charge if there are any issues that need resolving
  • Communicate effectively to the team via email or text message.
  • Pass on information from the Sports Coordinator or Teacher in Charge to the rest of the team.
  • Pick up the team bag from Tahatai Coast School at the beginning of the season and return it immediately following the season.
  • Issue the team set of uniforms to each player; Keep track of which shirt each player has, collect the set back at the end of the season, wash them and return to the school in a named plastic bag. Please do not return until you have the entire set.
  • Keep everything in the bag in good condition, keeping track of any equipment that is in the bag.
  • Speak with the Sports Coordinator or Teacher in
    Charge if there are any problems with sideline behaviour of other parents in your team or with parents from opposition teams.
  • Set a good example of how to behave on the sideline.


THE FAIRPLAY CODE FOR PLAYERS AT TAHATAI COAST SCHOOL
Good sport is about positive attitude. You can set the right tone and help make the game a success. Play your part-play fair. To the best of your ability you will:
  • Be RESPECTFUL of umpires, officials, opponents, coaches, managers, equipment, uniforms and team mates and always listen carefully
  • Be RESPONSIBLE by helping with clean up after a practice or after a game
  • Show PERSEVERANCE to try anything the coach wants you to try at practice and at the game
  • Show INTEGRITY by showing great sportsmanship, and by following the rules of the gameAim for PERSONAL EXCELLENCE by working hard to do your best for yourselves and your team at all


THE FAIRPLAY CODE FOR UMPIRES AT TAHATAI COAST SCHOOL
Good sport is about positive attitude. You can set the right tone and help make the game a success. Play your part - play fair. To the best of your ability you will:
  • Follow the instructions from Sport Bay of Plenty (Rules) or the code deliverer.
  • Control the game in a firm, fair and positive manner.
  • Be consistent and fair in your decisions.
  • Modify your approach to suit the participants' level of ability.
  • Do what you can to make sure that everyone enjoys the game - including yourself.
  • Encourage fair play and do not tolerate poor play of any kind
  • Give it your full effort
Extracurricular and Enrichment Opportunities

While classroom learning programmes will cater for the individual abilities of the individual children, we offer a range of enrichment activities/opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. Below is an outline of some of the extracurricular and enrichment opportunities available in our kura.

Gardening/Environmental Programme

PiPS (People, Plants, Schools), works with us to run our school gardening programme and environmental programmes.  We have a large purpose built area for these programmes with several garden beds, outdoor classroom, storage sheds and community orchard.

The children take a lot of pride in harvesting the produce they have grown and setting up a space at the front of the school to give to the Tahatai community.

PiPS Tahatai Blog

Check out what the kai growers have been up to on the PIPS website.

Sporting Events

During the year, ākonga/students have the opportunity to participate in many extracurricular sporting events outside of the school.  These include the Super Smash Cricket Festival, Basketball World Cup, WBOP Surfing Competition, Inter-School Amazing Race, Top Schools, Gymsport Festival and Rugby 5’s Tournament. 

The Arts

Waiata-ā-ringa/songs with actions, are taught every Friday to all school Whānau (Year groups).  We also have Junior (Years 1-3), and Senior (Years 4-6) Kapa Haka rōpū.  Both groups perform at special school events such as Matariki and Christmas on the Field.  The Senior Rōpū also performs at the Mauao Rā Whakangahau which is normally held in Term 4 every year.     

A group of our ākonga/students is selected to compete in regional and national DanceNZMade events.  Trials are held early in Term 1 and then the children train every week up until the regional competition.  

For the last couple of years, we have put together a Year 5/6 band to compete at the Rockshop Bandquest.  The children audition to make it into the band in Term 1.  They then practice weekly until the Bay of Plenty competition which is held in August.  This is a great way for our talented musicians to showcase their skills.  

The Senior Choir is set-up initially as a student elective and all children are able to attend as long as they are willing to commit to the weekly rehearsals.  They then start working with a variety of other Tauranga schools to perform in August at the Tauranga Musical Festival.    

Our Tahatai Pasifika group is formed during the year and practices weekly up until they perform at the local Pasifika Festival.

The ArtsSubtitle

While classroom learning programmes will cater for the individual abilities of the individual children, we offer a range of enrichment activities/opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. 

Student Leadership

We believe in building the leadership potential of each and every ākonga/student at Tahatai Coast School.  Leadership is a lifelong skill and one that needs to be fostered within the everyday learning context.  

The formal student leadership opportunities we provide for our Year 4-6 students aims to develop leadership skills that will enhance a child’s personal development, build a sense of pride and self-worth, and foster high levels of engagement by having ākonga/students feeling empowered, and in some cases, voicing the ideas and views of their peers.  

There are a variety of different formal leadership opportunities at Tahatai that cater to the diverse interests and passions of the ākonga/students.  

The current leadership opportunities for ākonga/students at Tahatai include:
  • Student Councillor
  • Peer Mediator
  • Friendship Leader
  • Te Whānau ā Tahatai/Breakfast Club 
  • Manukura/Cultural Leader
  • Library Leader
  • Arts Assistant
  • Road Patroller
  • Travel Smart Leader


Academic

A group of Year 5/6 children are chosen each year to participate in the Otago Maths Problem Solving Competition.  While this competition organised by Otago University is geared towards very capable Year 7 & 8 ākonga/students, we have found that our students have thrived and risen to the challenge of being a part of it. 

We run an in school ePro8 Challenge Competition every year for our Year 6 tamariki. The ePro8 Challenge is an engineering, science and problem solving competition which over 25, 000 ākonga/students participate in every year.  From our in school competition, we choose two teams to represent Tahatai at local inter-school competitions.    

Every August, we offer all Year 3-6 ākonga/students the opportunity to sit the International Competitions and Assessments (ICAS) exams.  The assessments include Digital Technologies, Writing, Science, English, Spelling and Mathematics.  Please note that these assessments are administered at school, but parents/caregivers need to enrol their child in the tests and pay the related costs.  Information regarding these assessments is included in the school newsletter until the exams are administered in August.  

ePro8 Challenge 2024

Student Electives

We offer a variety of student electives throughout the year.  The individual electives normally change each term and are based on the passions and interests of our kaiako/teachers.  There is no cost for the electives and the children can put themselves forward for an elective at the start of each term.  Some of the electives have limited numbers due to safety considerations or the amount of space available.  We encourage the children to get involved and give new activities a go.  Current electives include language lessons, drawing club, running club, choir, gymnastics and surfing. 

Tahatai Surfing Club