Our school sits on an attractive 2.7 hectare site with large grassed playing fields, asphalt tennis and netball courts, two separate basketball courts (one asphalt and one artificial grass), a beach volleyball court, bike track, two adventure playgrounds, scooter track, fruit orchard, student gardens, large sandpit and sunshade areas.
Tahatai Coast School is a large, very well resourced primary school located in sunny Pāpāmoa, near Mount Maunganui. We have an average roll of approximately 800 students, catering for students from Years 0 to 6. We see ourselves as a ‘hub’ for the community, and the school resources are well used outside of school hours.
Map of Tahatai School Grounds
Our learning spaces invite learners to feel right at home! They can find carefully designed spaces to create, learn, play and perform both inside and outside.
Our spaces include our library and Koru Room/Special Needs Facility. The learning spaces at Tahatai could be described as being flexible and transparent, with all areas having ‘break-out spaces’ for group work or for further teaching space.
Classrooms
Tahatai provides a stable, calm environment for learning and development. All of our classes are single-cell. This means there is one main classroom teacher in a format that allows teachers to dedicate time and attention to each student based on their individual needs.
Koru Room
The Koru Room team is a highly experienced team of Specialist Teachers and Learning Support Assistants. Tahatai Coast School is a mainstream learning environment that aims for full inclusion for all students, while enabling children to reach their full potential.
Library
Tahatai Coast School LIbrary is a welcoming, engaging place where students are encouraged and supported to develop their literacy and reading skills for their future.
It is a well resourced space, with approximately 9,400 books, which provides access to a wide range of information sources that are suitable for the literacy needs, interests, abilities, and cultural backgrounds of the students.
Classes visit each week and the library is open at lunchtime supported by Library Leaders. By working in collaboration with the teaching staff, it supports the teaching and development of relevant learning areas of the New Zealand curriculum.
Hall
The large school hall is used to support school assemblies, PE, Music and Drama programmes, as well as community celebrations such as our Matariki celebration, Celebrating Cultural Diversity evening and Parent Information evenings.
Our school sits on an attractive 2.7 hectare site with large grassed playing fields, asphalt tennis and netball courts, two separate basketball courts (one asphalt and one artificial grass), a beach volleyball court, bike track, two adventure playgrounds, scooter track, fruit orchard, student gardens, large sandpit and sunshade areas.
We have two main playgrounds in the school with the one amongst the school buildings being for Years 0-2 children and the one at the far end of the field for Years 3-6.
Amongst the buildings, we also have a large sandpit and rocket for the children to play on. At the far end of the field, there are basket swings which are very popular.
The school bike track was made in 2019 and winds itself around the outside of the school fields. Bike on Charitable Trust put us onto the Tauranga City council to align with a give back programme that they were running. The trust also donated the funds that supported the purchase of over 50 helmets and 50 bikes. Brian Perry Civil oversaw this project and its design, and generosity from Higgins provided us with the asphalt. The school has purchased over 50 bikes and helmets for the children to use during scheduled classroom times.
Behind the school library, we have a large boxed sandpit with shade sails. The children enjoy using the shovels provided to dig tunnels and make sand castles. In between the sandpit and the gardening area is a rocket for the children to climb.
The scooter track offers an alternative play area for the children during break times. The children place their scooters in the racks near the track in the morning for riding during the day. The scooter has street signs and painted crossings to add to the excitement of riding on it. This project was funded by the school, and very kindly by the Tahatai Parent, Teacher Association (PTA).
We have an extensive gardening area located near the scooter track. This is used for gardening and environmental lessons run by PiPS (People, Plants, Schools). We also have an orchard behind the ‘Long Block’ of classrooms where several types of fruits are grown, harvested and shared with the community by the children. Many of the children get to use these spaces for gardening lessons, and it is a quiet area that many of the children enjoy playing in.
With large grassed playing fields for rugby and football, asphalt tennis and netball courts, two separate basketball courts (one asphalt and one artificial grass), a beach volleyball court, Tahatai can cater to a variety of sporting activities.
Football and Rugby Fields
We have two full sized football fields and one rugby field that are used by the children during school hours and by the wider community outside of these hours. It is great to have this wide space for the children to run and play. The field area is also used for Parent, Teacher Association (PTA) events and school sporting fixtures.
Beach Volleyball Court
A popular pastime along the Western Bay of Plenty coast is beach volleyball. We have our very own full sized beach volleyball court and net at the far end of the school field. It is also used for long-jump during athletics, and the children enjoy playing in the sand!
Basketball/Netball Courts/Tennis Courts
During the summer months, the netball courts are set-up for tennis. Student lessons are held during school hours on the courts, but the community is free to use them outside of school hours. Normally the courts are set-up and used for netball training and games. We also have a full basketball court located at the far end of the school field.
We have a ‘Kiss’n’Go’ area at the front of the school for drop-off in the morning, between 8:10-8:40am. As the name suggests, this is a quick drop off point that is assisted by a staff member. We ask that people dropping off the children help us by being patient, remaining in the vehicle, having the children exit the car on the curb side, and taking a left hand turn only when exiting the drop off zone to keep the flow of traffic moving.
There is an after school care facility based at Tahatai called ‘Kids Club.’ It provides onsite care between 2:30pm-5:30pm daily. Kids Club is Oscar Registered for WINZ subsidies. For more information including availability, please contact Trish: 027 493 7242.
Many outside providers also use our ‘Kiss’n’Go’ area at the start and end of the school day to drop-off and collect children.