COASTAL TARANAKI SCHOOL

Kia ora kou tou

What a positive term we’ve had, thanks to the calm, visible and experienced leadership of Richard McMillan. Thanks to the SLT of Sarah Oke and Gemma Chambers. We’re making excellent progress as we tick off tasks established earlier in May.

Secondly, thanks to all CTS board members for their stewardship over the past three years and to Kat Moffitt as Presiding Member. By next term we may have some new board members, so look for updates in that space.

Enjoy your break with Whānau and friends.

See you in Term 4 as we focus on securing the right permanent Principal for CTS. Exciting times!

Ngā mihi

Roz Mexted

LSM

COASTAL TARANAKI SCHOOL

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

ABSENCE HOTLINE

027 320 1267

WELL-BEING MENTOR

Treishka Morgan

wellbeingmentor@coastaltaranaki.school.nz

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE

Christine 64272851630

CTS Website

Facebook - Coastal Taranaki School

Classroom Blogs/Sites

Kia Ora Tatou

The end of another Term, with School Holidays beginning next week. While the holidays are a welcome respite, this is also a significant milestone, as it means there is only one term remaining in the 2025 School Year!!

Term 3 has been an exciting period with a large range of events and activities completed. There have been many highlights including: -

The Year 7/8 Girls Self-Defence Programme
The Powhiri to welcome new Students
The Year 9-13 to Trip to the Careers Expo TSB Stadium
The CTS School Production “Blue Ribbon Belle”
School Council up and running
The Kapa Haka Performance to open the LEAD Conference
The Taranaki Schools Music Festival
Assemblies - Student hosted
Literacy Week (including the Dress up Day)
Daffodil Day
Year 11-13 Benchmark Exams (possibly not a highlight for some students!!)
Sporting activities, including the School and Interschool Cross Country events, and Rugby Skills Coaching, Senior Golf, Netball, Touch Rugby.

It has been an excellent Term, with a generally very positive and vibrant tone prevailing right across the School, and everyone focused on the core business of teaching and learning.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Staff of CTS for their efforts this Term. There are some great people involved in this School, and the Team dynamic is such that we feel supported, valued, and encouraged in our day to day efforts to provide the best possible learning outcomes for our Students.

The School Production provided an insight into the character and commitment of the Team here at CTS. The driving force behind “Blue Ribbon Belle’ was Performing Arts Teacher Kelly Waugh, with Technical support from Ian Robinson. These two have had considerable experience in producing Shows, and it was a privilege observing first hand how they worked, and watching the pieces of the jigsaw being fitted together.

This was however a whole School Production, and all Teachers and their Classes contributed, as did our Support Staff. Congratulations to everyone for your part in producing such a memorable event. Interestingly over 600 people attended the 3 shows.

Thank you to parents who have also contributed this term, and for supporting your child/ren as they progress on their educational journey. The early years are always busy, and at times challenging, but they are also crucial for developing the foundational behaviours and learning for life.

This is a very busy School, and the wide range of activities and events that make Area Schools unique ensure that no two days are ever the same, and there is a real vibrancy to each and every day. Of course it is not all fun, but the good certainly out weighs the other things.

The only downside this Term has been the high level of absenteeism due to the range of flu and bugs doing the rounds (since the Term 2 Holidays). Some people have been very severely impacted, with long term and ongoing after effects. Hopefully these holidays act as a circuit breaker, and an opportunity for everyone to recuperate and recover.

Have a wonderful break, and enjoy the opportunity to enjoy some quality family time - we look forward to seeing everyone back fit and well at the start of Term 4.

Nga mihi nui

Richard McMillan

PRINCIPAL

Food for Thought

“In the end, kids won’t remember that fancy toy or game you bought them, they will remember the time you spent with them” – Kevin Heath.

School Holidays

School finishes for the holidays at 3.00pm on Friday, and Term 4 begins on Monday 6th October - enjoy the break!!

Cross Country

We have enjoyed a very successful Cross Country Season. Following on from the successful School Year 4-13 Event, 18 runners were selected to participate in the Year 4-6 Interschool Event, and 12 in the Year 7-8 Event, both held at Omata.

These were tough events over a challenging course, but we are delighted with the results achieved by our athletes:-

Year 4/5/6 Cross Country

Year 7/8 Cross Country

Following these events, 27 children were selected to run in the Taranaki Cross Country Championships in Hawera. A number performed extremely well finishing in the top half of their age groups with the highlight being Emily Wanden who was 4th in the 13 year old girls!

This week we held the Year 0-3 Fun Run Event here at School. This was a lot of fun, with a real highlight being the support the Junior runners received from older children. It is in fact very encouraging that many children from the older classes are so motivated to assist the Juniors by running with them.

Also encouraging was the great turn-out of parents and supporters to encourage the children - it added to a really enjoyable atmosphere.

The Cross Country Season is now over. As we are probably all aware from personal experience, Cross Country isn't an easy event. However the runners this year showed real courage and determination, and a sense of pride in doing their best. Congratulations to everyone.

Da da da da da da da daaaa! Woah, what an awesome song! I think 'Africa' was our favourite. On Wednesday we went to the TSB stadium and practiced for the long night ahead. There was LOTS and LOTS of waiting, being patient and don't forget the mana waves! Making the storm was complicated with our hands clicking and all of us jumping, but it turned out sounding really good and we had some back up from the weather outside.

There was a live band and two professional singers - Don't tell Cameron but we thought Danica was the best!

We had been practicing for two terms and had finally achieved our goal. We had to watch our conductor to know when to sing our part but it looked to us like there was just a random lady flapping her arms around and loving the song. We definitely sang our hearts out last night!

We interviewed two of our singers and this is what they said.....

I like the kiwi kids medley and my favourite was the homework blues. I liked the band because they only got together the day before. Danica was my favourite. - Lucy Gibson

My favourite songs were 'Africa' and 'Don't stop believing' and I could see my parents in the crowd. - Koko Van Auld

By Taryn McDonnell and Nadia Ratcliffe

Thanks & Help Needed Ongoing

As we wrap up another term of Breakfast Club, we would like to thank our wonderful volunteers Liz Beck, Carolyn Padman, Lydia Van Den Assum, Margarete Ratcliffe & Vicky Thomas for their amazing support.

Some of our volunteers are unable to return next term so we are on the lookout for some more breakfast club supporters to get involved. Please email me ian.robinson@coastaltaranaki.school.nz or see Jackie in the office if you would like to join the crew.

And that's a wrap!!!

A huge shout out to our School Community for the massive support we received for our Production "Blue Ribbon Belle", which played to packed audiences over the 3 Performances.

We are grateful for your support, and the encouragement this provided for the cast of 220 who performed in this show.

It was a memorable event. We are indebted to the skills and passion of Producer/Director Kelly Waugh, with support from Technician Ian Robertson. We are indeed fortunate to have such ability and creativity in our ranks.

Thanks big time to our Staff as well - they are very committed to the School and more than go the extra mile to support and encourage our tamaiki. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated TEAM.

Lessons are in school time. Lessons are in groups of up to four students at a time.

Environmental Club/Mara Garden Club

Mrs Rich and her lunchtime Mara gardeners helped build Bug Hotels.

Pukeiti Toru - Room 24

In room 24 we were busy creating our costumes for the production. We were clowns and needed to make hats and bow ties. We designed our bowties and then drew the patterns on with sharpie. We then dyed the paper using our choice of colours and design. We also made clown hats with paint, stickers, glue and glitter. We used the pom poms that our school community made and glued these on the top. We also pinned the pom poms onto our costumes. Did you see our amazing costumes in the production!

Community Service

Rooms 19 & 15 - Community Service collecting rubbish around Ōkato community skate park.

End of Term Message

As we wrap up the term, we want to take a moment to commend our Year 9–13 students for their hard work, focus, and positive attitude toward learning. Across subjects, sports, the arts, and leadership, you have shown determination, curiosity, and pride in your progress.

It has been heartening to see our school values: Manaakitanga, Ako, and Whanaungatanga reflected in the way you care for one another, strive to grow in your learning, and build strong, respectful relationships. Whether you’ve pushed yourself academically, supported your peers, or contributed to the wider life of the school, thank you for bringing these values to life.

We are proud of your efforts and look forward to seeing how you continue to grow next term. Enjoy a well-earned break!

WITT News
Each week, 13 of our students attend WITT’s Trades Academy, exploring courses that range from agriculture, electrical, and engineering to conservation, plumbing, sport and exercise, and more. WITT expands our curriculum by offering ākonga a wide range of pathways and experiences, helping them make informed decisions about their futures while gaining valuable skills, experience, and academic credits.

On Thursday, we were invited to celebrate our students’ achievements, and five of our 13 students received top awards in their classes. That means one-third of our students were recognised as top students or for outstanding achievement in courses open to all secondary schools in the Taranaki region. A truly impressive result for our small school with HUGE talent!

Award Recipients:

Rebecca Goodin – Top Student, Electrical
Luccas Ripia – Top Student, Conservation
Ben Moffitt – Top Student, Sport and Exercise
Liam Hooker – Outstanding Achievement, Engineering
Hayley Sulzberger – Outstanding Achievement, Plumbing

Their tutors spoke of their skill, dedication, and determination, noting that the future of their industries is in safe hands. They were celebrated for being among the most skilled in their classes, with bright futures ahead thanks to their talent, perseverance, and can-do attitudes.

Rebecca Goodin

Luccas Ripia

Ben Moffitt

Liam Hooker

Hayley Sulzberger

CAA Results:

CAA exam results will be available in early October. Once released, we will go through the individual feedback with students to help them identify areas where they can focus their attention and make improvements.

We recognise that this can be a stressful time, and some students may feel disappointed with their results. Please know that we are in this journey together, and we are here to support both you and your child through the process.

Science News

This term has been busy in science. The year 7 and 8 classes have been learning about plants and how a seed is able to sustain life before emerging from the soil and using photosynthesis to produce energy. They were able to plant some bean seeds and then take them home to plant in their gardens. They also had the opportunity to see the same seeds grow on cotton wool where they could see the shoot emerge from the seed.

Our year 9 and 10 class has been learning about the structure of the Earth and progressing on to look at different planets within our solar system.

At the beginning of the term, they learnt about the super continent Pangea and how scientists have been able to observe continental drift because they found fossils of the same species on different continents.

Towards the end of the term, we began looking at constellations and the phases of the moon. We also began linking those phases to Maramataka.

Year 11 science has been busy with internals. We started the term working on, 91920 - demonstrate understanding of a science-informed response to a local issue where we investigated New Zealand's smokefree goals. Now and for the remainder of the year, we are working on 92021 - demonstrate understanding of chemical reactions in context. This allows us to look at different types of chemical reactions and link them to real world concepts. Over the course of this unit so far, we have looked at the conservation of mass and how to balance chemical equations, investigated neutralisation reactions and will begin learning about some other types of reactions over the coming weeks. This assessment is broken up into several smaller assessment opportunities to allow students the best chance of success within the standard.

Finally, the senior chemistry class has spent the term practicing the external we started in term 2, making sure we are able to answer the questions asked and interpret them correctly. We have also been learning about ocean acidification as a result of the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide we are producing and linking this to the effects on marine creatures that rely on calcium carbonate shells for protection.

Omata Coastal Cross Country

Thank you to Whaea Gemma and Heather for organising the middle and secondary school Cross Country event - a great success with our highest number of secondary students and levels of participation. Some tough country kids out there!

Thank you also to Sarah Oke for organising the years 0-4 cross country which was another successful event showcasing our determined primary students. Great to see our year 7-13 students and staff encouraging our young people too. They look up to you! Whanau - we loved having you there as well and we’re sure you’re extensions were proud you came and watched them!