encompassing classrooms, playground and beyond, provides for safe, enjoyable, challenging experiences which promote understanding of oneself, others and the environment and their inter-relationships.

Matahui Road School provides a safe caring environment, carefully designed and developed to include elements of challenge with the aim of fostering children’s confidence and belief in their own abilities. With a maximum average class size of 17 students, teachers are able to develop in-depth relationships with individual students and spend more time making classrooms exciting places where learning is meaningful and fun.

Well maintained buildings, classrooms and surrounds help develop students’ pride in their school. Unique facilities include a specialist music room and multi-purpose room, both available to students at lunch time. Special features include our native bush area, ropes challenge, a 30 metre climbing wall, sandpits, woodwork areas, climbing tree, and a hut building area, which all reflect the many challenges and stimuli of the great kiwi outdoors.

Students are involved in the development of the school environment through gardening, planting trees, sculptures, paintings and murals.

Education Outside the Classroom

Educating students outside the classroom is seen as a vital and stimulating part of our school programme. Children are introduced to the challenges and dangers of the environment and the skills for coping with them, providing them with the opportunity to develop further strengths and abilities and greater self confidence. From Year 5, students enjoy two exciting school camps each year. The programme includes bush and water safety and survival skills, abseiling, surf skills, map and compass skills, sailing, rowing, canoeing, and campfire cooking. Camps are always planned around a strong science or social studies theme, with clear academic and social learning objectives for the students.  Our Year 7 and 8 students also undertake the Tarawera Leadership Challenge, in which they pack their gear into kayaks then kayak across Lake Tarawera, staying at Hot Water Beach campsite and undertaking a variety of Leadership challenges.  Later in the year, these senior students also plan for and undertake a multi-day tramping expedition.  In recent years, these students have completed tramps in the Kaimai ranges, the Northern Circuit tramp at Tongariro National Park, and Lake Waikaremoana.

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