Term Dates
Latest News
Report Absence
Policies & Procedures
Tapawera Area School caters for the education of students from 5 years old all the way through to the end of high schooling. The school works strongly to function as one school but for many activities secondary and primary work in different ways and spaces.
Tapawera Kindergarten is also onsite, located in one of the primary classrooms. It is a separate entity but we do work together to link learning and ensure smooth transition of Early Childhood Education into Primary schooling.
Being a rural school means our programmes have a particular flavour at times and strong connections with our local environment and the opportunities that environment provides. Tapawera Area School was established in 1942 as the ‘Consolidated School’ which was formed through the closure and combining of a number of small primary schools across the region. Later it became a District High School and then finally an Area School.
Many of our students travel a good distance to attend using the services of Wadsworth Motors School Bus Services. A service which is still going strong after 100 years.
Our primary classes tend to be much smaller than town schools giving students opportunity to form closer learning relationships with teachers. Our high school classes are much smaller than those found in large secondary schools but with all the same opportunities and resources. We work hard to ensure equivalent or better opportunities for students.
If you are interested please email Lissie at tapaweranetballclub1988@gmail.com
Kia ora all,
Welcome to the new school year here at Tapawera AS. After the rain of the first day (plenty of it but welcomed by many), the sun is now out and we can all enjoy this term and all it will bring.
It was a real pleasure to meet all of our students yesterday, both in assembly and then in their classrooms and other meetings.
It was a very positive start, with many stories of exciting times in the holiday and students looking forward to the school year.
Before this, last week we had a week of Teacher Development Days, getting organised for the year, updating first aid qualifications, refitting furniture into some of our wonderful new teaching spaces and generally being ready for the new year and all that it brings to us.
It was also great to welcome a number of new students to our kura yesterday, across a number of year groups but in particular to our growing (quickly) New Entrant class.
We will be holding our Mihi Whakatau (formal welcome) next week to welcome new members to our kura. This will take place in the school hall on Tuesday 10 February at 10.15am. All new families are warmly invited to attend with their child. Following the Mihi Whakatau, we would love to welcome you to the staffroom for a coffee and an opportunity to chat with staff.
We would like to warmly welcome our new Senior Administrator, Becky Knight, to our school. Becky is a wonderful addition to our team and has already embraced the new challenges of the role with enthusiasm and professionalism.
We also welcomed our new math’s teacher, Vikashini Singh to the secondary team as our high quality math’s teacher and we are also delighted to have Becky Knight as our new Executive Officer.
TOSI is coming, week 8 and we are hosting for the first time since 2017. This is a huge undertaking for our school and wider community but also a real opportunity to shine and show off what a great school and area we have here.
Billeting is the number one issue, we have to manage to billet 120 students from all the other schools for the 6 days, we realise this can be difficult to accommodate but it is one of the key components of a successful tournament for all involved.
A further update also regarding the Pulse and Smoothwall programmes that the school were running last year to try and assist students. After a review of these programmes, the school has decided to cancel our contract with this company. It was not giving the help and support we envisaged and actually created some additional issues. These programmes are no longer running at our school.
In terms of internet security for all of our staff and students, we do use N4L (An Educational Crown Company) that works with all schools in NZ) and this gives us the ability to block any “unsafe” sites that are not used for any educational reason.
Last year there was also an issue with some CAA (Common Assessment Activities) in our year 10 cohort. These CAA’s provide one route to students gaining NCEA credits in both Literacy (Reading and Writing) and Numeracy (Maths).
This was a mistake by the school and we have learnt from this and I can assure you will not happen again.
All students in this year’s Year 10 and 11 who need and wish to complete these assessments will be entered for the May and September opportunities.
I thank you for your understanding as I work through some of last year’s issues and seek to resolve all of them quickly and for the benefit of all.
Many thanks
Andy Ashworth
Acting Principal
“Providing Opportunities, Excellence and Equity for all”
Please click on this link:
Parents, please support our local businesses
Call Direct
Send Email
Visit Website
Call Direct
Send Email
Visit Website
Call Direct
Send Email
Visit Website
Call Direct
Send Email
Visit Website
Call Direct
Send Email
Visit Website
Visit Website
Scan this code to download the app
Download our Skool Loop App, a simple and free download. In Google Play & App Store search ‘Skool Loop’ and choose our school once installed.
