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Kia ora,
Tapawera Area School is a school that serves our local and wider community for students aged 5 to 19 years old. We have wonderful facilities which have been modernised recently and have some more major updates planned for 2026 and 2027. These facilities allow our students from an early age to experience and take part in specialist subject areas and facilities for earlier than they would at a ‘normal’ primary school.
We are close enough to Nelson to allow our senior students easy access to NMIT and Whenua Iti Trades Academies in years 11-13 for a huge range of high quality tertiary formatted courses.
We have Tapawera Kindergarten on our site allowing for amazing links pre and post starting our kura and playcentre is less than 100 meters away as well.
We currently have 5 school bus runs to service our wider community, free of charge to our families. Small class sizes, high quality subject specialist qualified teachers and a very strong learning support facility only adds to the value of our school.
We strive to succeed in giving multiple opportunities to all our students, some of which they would not get in larger urban schools. We pride ourselves on knowing every student's strengths and weaknesses and getting the best possible outcomes for them. We are large enough to provide for excellence and small enough to support all of our students and community needs. I look forward to meeting with you at any point and welcome questions or visits to our kura.
Andy Ashworth
Principal
“Providing Excellence, Opportunity and Equity for all”
14 May 2026
19 May 2026
19 May 2026
20 May 2026
20 May 2026
21 May 2026
25 May 2026 - 29 May 2026
25 May 2026
Hi all,
Just to make sure the information is hopefully getting to everyone,
At lunchtime on thursday the students heading off to Area School Nationals trials will be doing a sausage sizzle. Order forms have been given pout but if you haven't received one there is a copy of this on facebook that you can print out or there are some in the office. This is due back tomorrow but you can bring them on the day. Orders on the day we will we taking until we run out of Sausages. Better to order first. Sausages are $2 each. Order form to be brought back to the office.
Also Cafe Stanley will be open at lunchtime selling packets of potato chips, cookies, and frozen juicies- all $2 each.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone who can make it on Thursday for an awesome afternoon.
Cross Country Day: Information for Parents & Whānau (lots of information so please have a read)
Get your house colors ready! We are looking forward to a fantastic day of racing and school spirit. Here is everything you need to know for our upcoming Cross Country event.
The day kicks off with a whole school lunch at 12:30 pm. To keep everyone fueled, we have a Sausage Sizzle running from 12:30pm until approximately 1:15pm. Sausages are $2 each. Primary classes have all been given their order form, some of the seniors got these at morning meeting this morning. It will be on Skool Loop that you can print and bring in. A huge thank you to Paige, Shakaia, Hunter, Kiana, and our parent volunteers for Manning the grill at lunch time. This is a great fundraiser for these students, lets all get behind them in helping with the cost of Area School Nationals!
Also available are potato chips, cookies, and frozen juicies- all $2 each at lunchtime from Cafe Stanley, Please bring cash on the day for this.
Following lunch, the entire school will meet on the fields by the start line at 1:15 pm. This is a highlight of the day where we will take team photos and award prizes for the Best Dressed House, so make sure those house colours are on full display!
Races will begin promptly at 1:30pm and are expected to wrap up with the final race starting at 2:30pm. Once the running is finished, we will hold a prize giving to celebrate our 1st Place finishers and our Best Dressed winners. If there is not enough time then this will happen at the morning meeting on the following Monday. Students will head back to class at roughly 2:50pm to change and prepare for the end of the school day.
Race Order and Course Details:
1. 1:30 pm, Years 1 & 2, Half lap plus
2. 1:45 pm, Age 16+ (Competitive), Boys: 3 full laps/Girls: 2.5 laps
3. 1:50 pm, Age 16+ (Social), 2 full laps
4. 2:00 pm, Years 3 & 4, 1.5 Laps: Start with a full lap (around rugby pitch, cut to shearing shed), then a half lap (cut straight to shearing shed).
5. 2:10 pm, Years 5 & 6, Full lap and a half lap
6. 2:20 pm, Years 7 & 8, Two full laps
7. 2:30 pm, Age U14 / U16, Two and a half laps
(please note that these time are roughly when they will be going, so if you are coming to support anyone we recommend being here a little bit before so you don't miss out on seeing them)
Please ensure all students come dressed in school uniform and have their house colours in the bag to get dressed at lunchtime. Have appropriate running shoes, a towel and they will have their school uniform to get changed back into after their event as they will be getting wet with the water slide we have got organised. There will also be some obstacles of hay bales to jump over.
We look forward to seeing plenty of parents and supporters to share some Kai with us at lunchtime and then stay to cheer on the runners!
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Download our Skool Loop App, a simple and free download. In Google Play & App Store search ‘Skool Loop’ and choose our school once installed.