Office Hours

8.30am-4pm

Hours of Instruction

8.40am - 3.00pm

Email: office@coastaltaranaki.school.nz
Website: https://sites.google.com/coastaltaranaki.school.nz/coastaltaranakischool/home
Location: 92 Carthew Street, Ōkato, New Zealand
Phone: (06)7524022 - 027 320 1267
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coastaltaranakischool

Welcome Back to Term

Dear families and staff,

Welcome back to the new term! It's a busy newsletter!

I hope you all enjoyed a restful and refreshing break. It’s wonderful to have our students back on campus, ready for what promises to be a short but very busy term.

We have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, including Matariki celebrations, King’s Birthday, Teacher Only Day, Student-teacher conferences, the Science Road Show, Assessments, Chess club, Gardening Club and much more. It will certainly be a full calendar, but we are excited to continue building strong relationships and providing our students with engaging and meaningful opportunities for learning and growth.

I am looking forward to connections, conversations at different times throughout the weeks. Ka Puawai begins again tomorrow and I love this time of the week when I can return to my EC roots and meet some of our future clients! I will also be at our Manaikalani Morning tea next Thursday the 8th at 9am and hope to see many of you there. I am often found at breakfast club swiping a peanut butter toast and you are always welcome to come and join us at Kapahaka on a Wednesday.

I’m also pleased to share some good news — works have commenced on site with Southcoast Construction and Architect People. This long-awaited project comes at the perfect time, especially after the heavy rain (and yes, the buckets have been working overtime!). We’re grateful these improvements are underway to help make our school environment even better for everyone and appreciate patience.

We are excited to Welcome a new member of staff David Cripps as our new SENCO and you will find out a little more about him below.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school community.

Warm regards,
Gemma
Acting Principal

Our Expectations for Student Attendance

At CTS we believe that regular attendance is one of the most important ways we can support your child’s learning, wellbeing, and sense of belonging. When students are at school consistently, they build strong relationships, grow in confidence, and have the best chance to thrive in the classroom and beyond.

We know that life can sometimes be tricky, and it’s normal for students to be away now and then. But we also know that when absences start to add up—even just a day here or there—it can really impact learning and progress.

Working Together Helping students to attend regularly is something we do together. As parents and caregivers, you play a key role by making sure your child comes to school each day, and by letting us know when they can’t.

If your child is going to be away, please get in touch as soon as you can. You can phone us/send us an email to let us know the reason for their absence. We will soon be able to record absences via an app - watch this space.

When Absences Start to Add Up We understand there are genuine reasons students may be away sometimes. But if your child is away often or for long periods of time, we’ll get in touch to talk through what’s going on. It’s never about blame—we just want to work together to find ways to help.

Stepped Attendance Plan: Following the Ministry of Education's Stepped Attendance Response Plan (STAR) we will communicate regularly with you about your child's attendance and this will begin taking effect this term. You might expect to see a weekly overview of their attendance, a letter from their teacher if attendance has changed or a phone call to arrange a support meeting with us.

Need a Hand? If you’re finding it hard to get your child to school, please reach out. We’re here to help. You can:

• talk to your child’s teacher,

• message us through [app], or

• give us a call in the office and ask to speak with a memberour attendance team.

Together, we can come up with a plan that works for your whānau and supports your child to attend more regularly.

Want to Know More? For more information on attendance—including your rights and responsibilities—you can visit the Ministry of Education’s webpage: Attendance. You should also read the STAR approach attached here: LINK TO STAR

Thank you for being part of our school community, and for everything you do to support your child’s learning and wellbeing.

Introducing David Cripps – Our New SENCO

We are delighted to welcome David Cripps to Coast Taranaki School as our new Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

David brings over 20 years of experience in education, having worked extensively with teachers, students, and external support agencies. He has served as both a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) and a SENCO in previous roles, having completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Special Needs Education at the University of Auckland. While David is primary-trained, he also brings valuable experience from working in secondary school settings.

Coastal Taranaki School

BOARD COMMUNITY UPDATE

May 2025

Kia ora koutou

Board road map

The Board recently wrote to the school community about the appointment of a

Limited Statutory Manager (LSM) to support CTS. LSM, Roz Mexted has been with

us all week, meeting groups and individuals. While onsite, Roz is reviewing

governance and management processes and practices. Later this month, Roz will

have developed a Board ‘roadmap’ called an Outcomes Plan. The plan will outline

where we can expect positive shifts, strengthen systems and increase staff and

student confidence and capability. We will share more with you later this month.

School leadership and consultation

Roz will be working with senior leaders in their mahi during this transitional phase.

The Board acknowledges the mahi of Acting Principal, Gemma Chambers and

Acting DP, Sarah Oke during this period.

It is important to note that the Board will consult its community this term before

recruiting a permanent principal. Community input will guide Board strategy and seek

input about a permanent principal and being the right fit for our school community.

There will be a further update about school leadership later this month.

School policies and procedures

We are looking forward to moving to the School Docs suite of policies, to ensure

ours align to legislation and effective practice. Within the next 2 weeks, our school

community will be able to directly access and view CTS policies via the School Docs

website.

Communication with whānau

One of the aspects being reviewed is our communication with whānau. We expect

communication to improve this term. We are moving to a new student management

platform, Helix, to improve home/school communication and we are updating our

school website.

Kat Moffit

Presiding Member

CTS Board

A massive shout out to our CTS Mara team and Marcus and his outdoor crew for continuing to make our space more natural and tidy. By encouraging native growth we invite geckos and insects to play alongside us. By adding the softness of bark we make playing in the trees safer and by tidying up our bush we provide shade, ‘hide-away’ spaces and more.

Thank you to everyone who is contributing!

If you are keen to help in anyway let us know and we will connect you with the right people.

Let's stand together for our ESSENTIAL SUPPORT STAFF!

Our tamariki deserve the best support at school - and that means investing in the incredible people who help keep our schools running: teacher aides, kaiārahi i te reo, librarians, admin staff and more.


Yesterday was wear green to work day - You can support us by signing the open letter to the government.

Sign the letter to the government! https://action.nzei.org.nz/.../support-investing-in...

These staff are essential to the learning and wellbeing of our kids, but right now, they're undervalued and underpaid. Let's change that.

We are happy to announce that Breakfast Club is operating once again for Term 2 and is all go for Tuesday Wed Thurs and Friday.

We are always after more volunteers so if you think you can volunteer an hour of time, even just one day a week please contact the school office (06) 7524022 or email ian.robinson@coastaltaranaki.school.nz

Thank you to those supporting Breakfast Club, we appreciate you!

Morning Tea with Manaikalani.

Join us for a coffee and find out about The Manaiakalani Education Trust.

Thursday next week ( 8th May 2025) Manaiakalani facilitators Fi and Meryn will join us in the staff room at 9 am to share about The Manaiakalani Programme and how the Manaiakalani Programme (TMP) provides the framework for what we do as educators and learners in a digital world.

It incorporates:

• Pedagogy
  
  

• Kaupapa
  
  

• Development Streams
  
  

• Digital Citizenship delivery - Being Cybersmart
  
  

Coastal Taranaki School is a member of the Taranaki School Cluster.

https://www.manaiakalani.org/

We hope to see you there, all welcome.

Phillippa Gorrie-Lawn has left us, she has joined Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu – The
Correspondence School to become a Kaiako for years 0 – 10.

Introducing Hector's World - Online Safety & Digital Citizenship Unit for Years 1-8 in Term 2

Dive into Hector's World: Join Hector and his friends as they navigate the digital seas and learn valuable lessons about online safety and digital citizenship.

Hector’s World is an animated series created for tamariki in Years 1 – 6. Here at Coastal Taranaki School, we are adopting it to also include our Year 7/8 students alongside additional material. There are seven episodes available in both English and te reo Māori, each lasting around 8 minutes, which explore important and relevant issues related to online safety and digital citizenship through fun and entertaining storylines. The series follows our hero character Hector and his friends Felix, Jazz and Milly. They attend classes at Coral Cove School and hang out together after school both online and offline – all the while learning valuable lessons about respect, consent, kindness, and safety.

Each episode is accompanied by a selection of resources that will be used in our classrooms and these have been written for Years 1 – 3 and Years 4 – 8 to ensure the messaging and learning is age and context appropriate.

Hector’s World aligns with a number of curriculum areas and key competencies. Throughout the series we see how the characters all have a different relationship with and different usage of technology.

Check out this trailer for a sneak peek into Hector's World

As well as a wide range of resources available to support teachers using Hector's World in the classroom, parent guides have also been designed to accompany each episode outside of the school gates, providing wraparound online safety education. Parents and whānau can head over to www.hectorsworld.com where you can access the full range of episodes and supporting resources for the home.

Hector’s World is a fully owned subsidiary of Netsafe New Zealand, an independent not-for-profit online safety charity.

Taking a technology-positive approach to the challenges digital technology presents, working to help people in New Zealand take advantage of the opportunities available through technology by providing practical tools, support and advice for managing online challenges.

Netsafe keeps people of all ages safe online by providing free support, advice and education seven days a week. Driven by the vision and gear everything we do to achieving our purpose: “To support the people in Aotearoa New Zealand to have safe and positive online experiences”.

Hector’s World was first created by Netsafe in 2007 and has been educating and entertaining children around the world since then. In 2024, Netsafe reimagined Hector’s World to bring the characters and storyline up to date with today’s digital climate and to make sure the online challenges and issues in the series relate to kiwi Tamariki today.

Kia Kaha!

As we head into term 2, it's a great time to remind ourselves of the importance of showing up, staying focused, and making the most of every learning opportunity. Every day at school counts – whether it's preparing for assessments, deepening our understanding, or simply supporting one another to succeed.

We’re proud of the effort many of our ākonga are putting in, and we encourage everyone to keep showing up and giving their best. Let’s continue to support each other, aim high, and continue Term 2 strong. You’ve got this!

A huge congratulations to Clyde, who recently competed with the Taranaki Basketball Under 18 team in the national tournament over the school holidays. The team placed an impressive second in the country in their grade! We are incredibly proud of the hard mahi, commitment, and dedication Clyde has shown both on and off the court. Ka rawe, Clyde!

Early Leavers - if anyone plans to leave before the end of term 2 - please contact the class teacher to arrange a time for a interview meet up and report.

Last Term some of our NCEA students participated in the Taranaki Orchestra day held at New Plymouth Girls High School.

8 Taranaki High Schools came together to create a mass orchestra of over 100 musicians.

We were led under four different conductors and we rehearsed four different pieces during the day. By the afternoon we performed to an audience of primary school children, day care children and senior citizens.

The numbers performed were;

Harry Potter Suite

Wonderwoman Suite

March of the Dwarfs

Born this way ( Lady Gaga)

It was an amazing day had by all. Please head over to the Coastal School Website to look at the arts page to see videos and photos of the day. Remember to click on the 'performance hub' to find it.

Link below

https://sites.google.com/coastaltaranaki.school.nz/arts2025kellywaugh/home

Last Term staff and students went to see a performance of Macbeth by The Barden Party in Stratford as part of their Shakespeare Festival.

.

There will be 2 themes incorporated into our sessions for this term:

Friday 23rd May - Teddy Bears Picnic

Friday 13th June - Matariki, celebrating the stars

Ben and Lucy Thomas went to Auckland over the holidays and completed in the Halberg Games.

Both competed in the pool, and track and field. Lucy managed to complete the 100m with her walker and the 50m independently.

Years 0-2 & years 3-4 interested in playing miniball this term please register by contacting Zoe Kensington: 027 317 7006

Games are played in term 2 only and held at Opunake even centre. Starting next week Monday nights.

Games vary from 3:30, 4:00 & 4:30pm.

Coach has a few spare seats so just advise if keen but can’t get child there.

Never played before no worries. Come along and give it ago.

Head over to our school sports facebook page CTS Sports and follow for all our school sports news, results and updates.

Kia ora koutou,

Whaea Annie, our new entrant teacher, is planning ahead. If you know of any preschoolers in our community, who may be turning five in the next year or two please share this Pre-enrolment at CTS with their families. Even if you have a child at the school already please fill the form out. It only takes a few minutes to do, but it is really important that we have an idea of student numbers so that we can plan ahead. This also ensures that all new families have all the information they need around Transition to School visits.

For more information about transition to school, click this link - Transition to School CTS 2025

If you’d like to contact me directly, my email is annie.harris@coastaltaranaki.school.nz

Ngā mihi nui

Annie

Transition to school/New entrant teacher

--

Annie Harris

Transition to School and New Entrant Teacher

COASTAL TARANAKI SCHOOL

Gemma Chambers Acting Principal

Sarah Oke Acting Deputy Principal, Food Technology, Careers/Pathways, Tech on 45

David Cripps SENCO

Viola Fung English

Andrea Dingle Maths

Steve Leppard Hard Materials Technology, Tech on 45

Kelly Waugh Visual/ Performing Arts

Natalie Bound Science

Casey Stevens P.E & Health

Keegan Bruckner Social Sciences

Liana Roberts Pouakai Team Leader, Year 7/8 Teacher

Rebecca Connolly Year 6/7 Teacher

Emily Finey Year 5/6 Teacher

Renee Leathley Kaitake Team Leader, Year 4/5 Teacher

Heather Jull Year 4/5 Teacher

Annie Harris NE Transition Teacher

Jemma Moorby Year 1/2 Teacher

Philippa Hofmans Pukeiti Team Leader, Year 1/2 Teacher

Johannah Poutini Year 2/3 Teacher

Sarah Warren/Tara Ross Year 2/3 Teachers

Justine Francis Release Teacher

Margaret Normanton Release Teacher

Jason Brewer Release Teacher

Delwyn Pearce School Librarian

Kirsty Koboski Publicity Officer

Jacky Kopu Office Manager

Nicky Phillips Office, Funding & Sports Administrator

Ole Bucka Grounds & Maintenance

Learning Assistants

Darryl Levett

Kirsty Koboski

Paula Fleming

Dee Heath

Jess Harfield

Ruth Barron

Ian Robinson

Nicole Whittle

Kaycee Cresswell

Fon Julian

Marcus Wade

Student Support

Ida Staunstrup-Moore

Lisa Schrader