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

Kia ora e te whānau,

First and foremost, a huge thank you to our incredible staff — and in particular, our amazing support staff. As we celebrate National Support Staff Day Today May 16th, I want to acknowledge the dedication, heart, and quiet mahi that keeps our kura ticking each day. From the office to the grounds, from teacher aides to our caretaking and admin team — your contribution to our school is invaluable, and we are so grateful for all you do.

We had a fabulous start to the day last Thursday with a Manaiakalani sharing session, where our school reps, Fiona Waugh and Meryn Penno did a brilliant job walking us through the origins and pedagogy of our Manaiakalani programme. It was inspiring to revisit the heart of the kaupapa that underpins so much of our teaching and learning. You can read more about what’s happening across the wider Manaiakalani community here in the slide deck they shared, there is also a link to the latest newsletter there too - well worth a read!

Ka pai to everyone who has downloaded our new school app! We know it’s a bit of a mission to get past the “password before you have a password” booby trap — but here’s the trick: just enter the same email address you use for other school comms, then press ‘reset password’ and you’ll be on your way.

And here’s the exciting part — if you’ve successfully downloaded the app by Friday 23rd May, you’re in the draw for one of two $50 Four Square vouchers as part of our "In It to Win It" prize giveaway! If you need any help at all, pop in and see us at school or give us a call — we’re more than happy to get you sorted.

Today is also Pink Shirt Day, a powerful reminder to stand up against bullying and promote kindness, inclusion, and respect. Bullying has no place at our kura or in our community — and we are committed to building a safe and welcoming space where every student feels seen and valued. We will be a sea of pink!

I'll leave you with a favourite quote from C.S. Lewis:

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”

In the end the legacy that matters won’t be what you built in the world. It will be who you raised and whether they felt safe, seen and loved in your presence.

Our staff — support staff, teachers, leaders — are our greatest asset in ensuring this holds true every day at Coastal Taranaki School. Thank you for your continued support and arohā.

Ngā mihi nui

Gemma Chambers

The Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide framework, also known as PB4L School-Wide, is helping New Zealand schools build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life.

PB4L School-Wide looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective. The framework is based on international evidence that can be tailored to each school’s own environment and cultural needs.

It’s not about changing the students; it’s about changing the environment, systems, and practices you have in place to support them to make positive behaviour choices.

PB4L School-Wide is based on the Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework developed at the University of Oregon in the 1990s. PBIS is now in thousands of schools across the US and there are over 1050 School-Wide schools in New Zealand.

At Coastal Taranaki School, the values we live and learn are; Ako (empower), Whanaungatanga (collaboration) and Manaakitanga (care). We learn how to apply these values to many different situations and areas of our school and lives. When students are caught showing these values, they could receive a Coastal Coin. Students can collect these coins to earn rewards throughout the year.

As we hit week 4 of the new term, it’s important to take a moment to recognise the settled, calm and focused start we have had. A smooth start helps set the tone for a successful and productive few weeks ahead. We’d like to sincerely thank all of our staff for their hard mahi and dedication — your efforts ensure that our learners are met with engaging, meaningful learning opportunities every day. Your commitment does not go unnoticed. Ngā mihi nui!

Sadly, we farewell some of our whānau as they transition to new agricultural opportunities at the beginning of June. We say goodbye to Katie, Curtis, Sakura, Ari, and Eden — we wish you all the very best in your next chapter. Please always remember that you are part of our CTS whānau, and we’re only ever a call, text, or email away. At the same time, we’re looking forward to welcoming new enrolments as whānau move into Ōkato. As always, we will warmly welcome them and support them as they get to know our people and our place.

Whānau Hui – Supporting Student Success

We warmly invite whānau of our Year 9 and 10 ākonga to join us for upcoming hui focused on student achievement. Together, we’ll look at progress, celebrate successes, and put in place some targeted interventions to help ākonga thrive. Your support makes a big difference, and we look forward to working in partnership to support every learner’s journey. These will be held on Tuesday 24th of June with booking details to follow.

Term 2 2025 are our Academic Interviews for all Year 11-13 ākonga.

We are holding academic interviews for all Year 11 - 13 ākonga to discuss their work ethic, engagement, and progress. During these interviews, ākonga will have the opportunity to share their credit tracking and set next steps to ensure their success through to the end of the year. All subject teachers will be available to meet with you and your learner. The booking link will be added to Helix as soon as dates are confirmed.The interviews will take place from 1:00 PM until 6:30 PM. If this date or the above times do not work then please make contact with Sarah Oke.

It is expected that your learner (Year 9-13) attends their interview so they can share their learning and engage in the discussion. We look forward to meeting with you and supporting your learner's journey.

CAA Exams Coming Up – You’ve Got This!

CAA (Common Assessment Activities) exams are NEXT week, beginning on the 19th of May. This is a great opportunity for our ākonga to show what they’ve learned and how far they’ve come. We know exams can sometimes feel overwhelming, but with the right mindset and preparation, success is absolutely within reach.

Important Exam Reminders

NZQA Login - Make sure you can log in to NZQA. Staff have provided multiple opportunities to practise. If you are still having issues, please see one of your teachers as soon as possible.

Charged Chromebook - These exams are digital. Every learner must bring a fully charged Chromebook to each exam. All exams are held in the hall, where powerpoints are limited — devices must be ready to use.

Headphones - The Writing and Numeracy exams include a speech-to-text function, which is available to all learners. If you plan to use this feature, you must bring your own headphones.

8:40 AM Start Time - All exams begin promptly at 8:40 AM. This allows 10 minutes for logging in to NZQA and 5 minutes for final preparation. No one will be allowed to enter after 9:00 AM, to ensure minimal disruption and maximum focus.

If You Are Absent - If you cannot attend an exam, please call the school office as soon as possible. NZQA requires documentation (e.g. a medical certificate) for anyone needing an alternative exam time. If your absence doesn’t meet NZQA criteria, you will be required to resit the exam in September.

We believe in our ākonga and all the effort they’re putting in. Keep showing up, keep trying your best, and remember—progress is just as important as results. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui!

Term 2 is a busy time for English in the senior space!

CAA May Window

In the next two weeks, Years 9 to 13 students will be sitting their CAA tests in reading and writing. They have been working hard in English lessons to prepare for these tests. Students will need a fully charged chrome book when they complete these tests on the day. Please help your tamariki get organised this weekend.

If your tamariki does not know or are having difficulties in using their NZQA login, they must directly contact Mrs Oke and Ms Bound.

Year 11 NCEA 1.3 Mock Exam

During the CAA window, Year 11s will also be completing a mock exam for NCEA 1.3 on The Hunger Games. Information had been sent to whanau and students at the end of Term 1.

Resources, deadline dates and information on NCEA L1, L2, L3 and CAA literacy are available on Mrs Fung’s 2025 class site: https://sites.google.com/coastaltaranaki.school.nz/fung2025/home

Important Dates:

Term 2 Week 4 and 5

• CAA literacy and numeracy window

Wed 25th June

• Year 12/13 Internal Deadline 2 - Stimulus Writing 2, Poem and Short Story responses.

• Year 11 Internal Deadline 1 - NCEA 1.2 Creative Writing

Wed 20th August

• Year 12/13 Internal Deadline 3 - Text 1 and Text 2 responses.

Term 3 Week 8 and 9

• CAA literacy and numeracy window

Wed 3rd September

• Year 11 Internal Deadline 2 - NCEA 1.1 Verbal Language Essay

Wed 8th September

• Year 12/13 Optional Deadline - Visual and verbal text

Term 1 was an incredibly productive term for Room 15 (Pukeiti Rua). Our students have settled in well and are consistently demonstrating focused learning. I am thrilled with the progress being made and am particularly pleased with the growth in self-confidence among my students. The students are also proud of themselves and show their new confidence daily. It's heartening to hear them express their enthusiasm for learning with statements like “I love reading”, “I am getting so good at this” and “I love doing this writing, it’s my favourite part of the day.” Term 2 has been off to a great start and we have been learning about being “Firewise.” Be sure to go through the booklet that came home with your child and discuss things relevant for your household.

I encourage you to sign up for our class blog if you haven't already. It's a great way to stay updated on our activities and achievements. We have published several blog posts last term, and we hope more of you will take the opportunity to engage with our updates. Below are some links to help you easily catch up on the posts done so far this year. We would love you to leave a comment too.

QUICK LINKS:

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/02/01/successful-start/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/02/16/getting-into-it/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/02/22/the-importance-of-learning-how-to-form-letters-properly/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/03/06/math-matters/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/04/04/skilled-spellers/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/03/27/super-sunshine/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/03/18/sound-checks/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/03/12/reading-and-writing-links/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/03/27/swimming-demonstration/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/04/01/happy-harold-2/

https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/04/10/greater-than-or-less-than https://ctsphofmans.edublogs.org/2025/05/02/place-value/

Term Two has started well amongst the Kaitake Team.

For maths, we are currently focusing on Number, including adding and subtracting using a range of different strategies. Check in with your child and ask what they have been learning. This year we have continued our Structured Maths Approach which aligns with the new Government direction and further professional development will be given to our staff that fits well with this.

Last week we had our first Year 5-6 Inter School Competition games against St. Joseph’s, New Plymouth. We competed in Netball, Rugby and Football. While all three games did not go in our favour, it was great to see the team work and commitment amongst our players. Leonard, Charlotte and Josh were named players of the day by the opposite team. A big thanks to the parents who provided transport, coached, managed and came along to support. Our next games are at Coastal Taranaki School, next Thursday against Ōmata School, with games starting at 12:30pm.

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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

Basketball

Our Year 5 and 6 Coastal Hoopers and Coastal Shakers continue through this term and our Year 1 and 2 Coastal Mini mini and Year 3 and 4 Coastal Miniball Junior Basketball teams join the competition this season.

Due to numbers, our Coastal/Aotea Basketball team has been pulled out of the competition.

Netball

We have our Year 3 and 4 Coastal Netball team participating in the New Plymouth Netball league this term. We enjoy watching this team grow together on the court. Thank you to our parent coaches and supporters!

Our Year 7 and 8 Coastal Netball team began their Coastal Netball competition this term. We are grateful to our skilled parent coaches and whānau for their continuous support. Another great team to watch on the court!

We also have a Community combined social netball team formed under Coastlines Sports club. This team also competes in the Social Coastal Netball competition.

Football

We have one Coastal First Kicks - Year 1 and 2 Football team and two Coastal Fun Football - Year 3 and 4 teams that participate in the Ōākura Junior Football at Ōākura School every Saturday morning. Our football teams are involved in skills development sessions and then play two fun, non-competitive football games afterwards.

Some of our Coastal students from Year 5 to 11 have joined the Kaitake Football club and also participate in Football teams on Saturdays. Thank you to our community whānau for continuously supporting our school sports.

CTS Surf Team

Our CTS Surf team will begin again in term 4. Information regarding ‘how to join our surf team will be sent out in term 3. Remember you have to be able to surf, to swim 100m unassisted and have your own surfing equipment and be committed. We require Parent support for these events and appreciate our whānau for continuing to do this.

Nicky Phillips

Team Sports Co-ordinator and Administrator

Secondary

Rugby - Ōpunake/CTS combined team - Rome Fraser and Jacob McEldowney

Volleyball team - Sunday league has now started at the TSB stadium

Basketball - Senior boys basketball team are underway at the Ōpunake events centre. We have both a junior and senior players now this 2025.

Coaches and managers - Thank you for getting involved and putting your hands up! We know the amount of time and effort it takes to organise, communicate, organise students and keep whānau updated. Ngā mihi nui to you all so far this 2025 !

Physical Education updates - It has been great to see higher levels of fitness across all ages and classes going out for more sports these first 2 terms. We see students clearing out the Junior P.E shed lately and re-organising it! Ka pai top mahi tamariki. We have also noticed many students using good manners asking for equipment and putting it back each lunchtime. There is now much higher involvement in movement, secondary students fitness training and activity during lunchtimes, as teachers we know this enhances learning, belonging and student focus. Well done!

Wellbeing - Lately the sports department has noticed a big shift in sportsmanship and students' language towards each other. It is great to see tamariki lifting each other up and using positive words during sports time. This demonstrates our school values of Manaakitanga and we can see that all students are relating to each other well. Tu Meke! Our focus this term in Health is around relating well to others and making good choices around what we consume. A good start so far!

Events coming up for the term :

Year 5 and 6 Inter School Term 2

Year 7 and 8 Inter School Term 3

Winter Netball league - Ōpunakē Coastline Sports

Volleyball league - Started - Sundays year 9-13s TSB Stadium

Football/soccer - Kaitake Football Club

TSSSA badminton June 5th (Register with Casey) Y9-13

TSSSA 3 x 3 Jnr Basketball June 12th (Register with Casey) Y 9/10s

TSSSA 3 x 3 Snr Basketball June 24th (Register with Casey) Y11-13s

Students vs Staff Basketball - Wednesday lunchtime 1-2pm Week 9 Term 2

Looking to join a team or coach a new sport?

Please come see us at the main office! We know we have some very skilled parents out there who can give different opportunities in movement. Balls/whistles/code of conduct and team uniform all provided . Secondary students can coach too!

Casey Stevens

Health and Physical Education Teacher

Achievements - Congratulations!

Dancing - Indy Waugh - Dancing competition in the holidays . Tap - First place and scholarship - Ballet - Highly Commended results - Event - Taranaki Fancy Dancing . Ka pai!

Soccer - Eleni Wheeler and Hayley Sulzberger are currently third on the table in the Taranaki womens league soccer team - Kaitake Football club.

Year 9/10 Surfers programme - Students had the opportunity to surf this term also. Awesome mahi and movement here for this class! We are seeing happier and more active students as a result (both wahine and tane)

Year 8 girls - Chancefit - Thank you to Chance running weekly fitness and wellness sessions for our young females. There is a nationwide trend of 10-12 year old female drop out in sport however at CTS we are combating this and our learners are choosing movement regularly.

Kōtuitui Football skills programme will begin in Term 3 for 6 weeks for Year 4 to 8 students. Watch this space for more information.

Gymnastics club - Primary students - In the hall Tuesday lunchtimes - Signup sheet on hall door.

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

CAPE EGMONT HALF MARATHON 2025

Early Bird Half Marathon price of $50.00 close's midnight 31st May.

CAPE EGMONT VIRTUAL HALF MARATHON 2025

Want to walk or run in your own time, but also be part of a fantastic event? Then we would love you to join us.

The Cape Egmont Virtual Half Marathon offers three distance options - 5 km, 10 km and 21 km. Which can be completed any time anywhere from the 1st to the 31st of July 2025. Simply record your time via Strava, Map my run, Fit Bit or screenshot and upload through our website. Every finisher receives a medal and all money raised goes to the Taranaki Cancer Society and the Taranaki Men Can Exercise Group. To help those in our province affected by cancer.

ENTER AT: www.capeegmonthalf.com ENQUIRES capeegmonthalf@gmail.com

Spotswood Academy of Performing Arts (SAPA) is having a school production of The Lightning Thief- The Percy Jackson Musical in August.

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

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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