School news

Environmental committee newsletter 

Otamatea High School proudly stands as an Enviro School, meaning we are dedicated to fostering a sustainable future through hands-on learning and community action.  Our aim is to create a sustainable and educational environment for our students.  
Currently our 18-person committee has already hosted an environmental workshop, launched school composting, and started vegetable gardens, with funding applications underway for recycling bins.
As for our visions moving forward, we want to continue work in the vegetable gardens, implementing a garden to table program where produce produced will be used in hospitality classes and at the school cafe. We're focused on reducing school waste through sustainable closed-loop practices: appropriate food wastage and other compostable materials make the compost, which then is used to feed our gardens, and our 'garden to table' vision completes the cycle.  
In the near future, we hope to have a simple yet effective recycling system in place to enhance our sustainability once more, continuing to embody what it means to be an EnviroSchool. How you can help Otamatea high school become sustainable 

If you have any resources you think align with our projects and visions please email Tennessee.brewer@otamtea.school.nz

Cross Country

2025 Rotorua Tourism Trip

On Tuesday 6th May two van loads of students set off to Rotorua. We arrived at our destination called Rock Solid Backpackers. Students settled into their rooms and checked out our new home for the next two nights. The place was very well set up with a kitchen and lounge areas for us to enjoy. To end our wonderful day, we enjoyed a relaxing soak at the geothermal hot pools at the Polynesian Spa.

The next morning students were up bright and early having a catered breakfast, specially set up by Ladene, then we were all off to Agrodome which is a tourist attraction in Rotorua which put on a fantastic entertaining show introducing different breeds of sheep, giving us their history.  Then off for a talk about the history of Agrodome and how the business runs. The rest of our day involved a visit to Whakarewarewa – The Living Village where we experienced a guided tour learning the history of the village and seeing the geothermal activity and again, a very entertaining show. We were also treated with visiting Skyline Rotorua, riding up the Gondolas and experiencing the new tracks on the luge, which were a whole lot of fun when adrenalin kicked in and the race was on!!! Upon darkness, we set off to the Redwoods Tree Walk where you walk across suspended bridges and platforms through the redwoods, surrounded by a scatter of captivating fairy lights and lanterns which make the trees come alive.
After checking out of the backpackers on Thursday morning, we set off to enjoy the history of The Buried Village, with a hike down to the amazing waterfall and then headed back to OHS.

Once again, it was a pleasure to accompany the students on this trip, and a big thank you to them as they were awesome to spend time with. Also a big thank you to Mr Troost for organizing such a great trip!
Ladene Hunter

Term 2 Library Update

Along with the general running of the library and all the regular activities (such as Knit Happens, Chess and Board Game Thursday Club), Term 2 has been an extremely busy term for the Library Department.
The term started with 'May the Fourth' which was quickly followed by Pink Shirt day and NZ Music Month - thanks Maggie for your beautiful lunchtime performance.
The 12th of May was the Northland heat of the Kids Lit Quiz. As always, the 100 questions ranged from ones that were well known to those more specialised questions. Quiz Master, Wayne Mills, has been running the competition all over the world since its inception in 1991, and the questions are a reflection of that in-depth literacy knowledge. Year 7's Charlie, Lucy, Solomea, Grace, Senuthmi, Lennox, Cheyne and Havahn (Year 8), had been meeting each week to do pre-study and expand their reading repertoire. With over 40 teams, the two from Ōtamatea finished solidly in the middle, which doesn't show all their dedication and effort but is definitely not to be discounted.
Along with helping pre-quiz the Kids Lit team, the Year 9 Readers Cup teams read and reviewed 6 allocated books for 2025 Quiz. On the 12th of June, the 9 students went to Whangārei Boys High to test their reading compression (and memory) skills. Percy, Jeremy, Zach, Ewan and Heston (OTA 2) did extremely well with "The Fall" and "The Last Dragon on Mars" sections. Ōtamatea 1 consisting of Jordyn, Caitlin, Allyssa and Nico were the only team of the day to get a 10/10 score (which was for the questions around "Two Degrees"). Tensions were high throughout the afternoon as often there was only a point and at one stage, half a point between the teams.
Unfortunately, OTA 1 was pipped at the post by the team from Kerikeri High School. All the books the teams read are available for issuing. A big thanks to the parents who offered their support with both events. 
In the midst of this was the Writers Festival in Auckland, preparing for the Literacy Association's Book Battle, and the amazing visit from Te Kahupakea Rolleston and Deborah Robertson on the 29th of May. Te Kahu is an inspiring speaker who is well known for his 'Poetry Slam'. Deborah is a writer and an experienced English teacher who ran an in-depth and informative writing workshop.
Rounding off the term has been a week of ' International Languages' which, thanks to Ms. Moreno's planning, has seen Chinese Spouting bowls, clogs, French poetry, and Philippine Myths followed by two weeks focusing on Matariki. 

Matariki

On the 20th of June Aotearoa celebrated Matariki, the Māori new year. Matariki is a special time that marks the rising of the Matariki star cluster. It’s a time to remember those who have passed in the last year, celebrate the present with whanau and friends, and look forward to the future. At school to celebrate Matariki we had students colour and decorate their own stars to put up as a display. We also had some members of the kapa haka rōpu perform a few songs, to celebrate this holiday with a couple waiata.

Mystery Creek Fieldays Trip 2025

On Wednesday 11th June the L1 Primary Industries  and Alt Ed classes travelled to Hamilton in order to attend the National Field Days at Mystery Creek. We arrived at Mystery Creek early afternoon and attended for around three hours during which time a number of students met the Prime Minister, Richie McCaw, Sam Whitelock and Paddy Gower. That evening we had dinner in Cambridge and stayed the night at the Narrows Christian Park just two minutes drive from Mystery Creek. The next day, after an early 7am breakfast, we arrived at the gates to the Field Days shortly before opening and then became part of the 32 000 crowd visiting the more than 1 000 sites. Just after midday we assembled ready for the trip back to Otamatea and managed to negotiate the traffic back to OHS. By all accounts everyone enjoyed themselves and learned a lot about what fuels the agriculture industry. Special thanks to Sam Phillips and Ladene Hunter for driving vans and looking after students. 

Luca Troost and Vann Johnson with their best mate Richie McCaw

School Ball 16 August 2025

DOE Gold ceremony Government House

On the 7th June at 2pm a GOLD Duke Of Edinburgh Ceremony was held at Government House in Wellington. Otamatea High School had three recipients receiving their award:
Connor Alcock, Chloe Comer and Sonya Steiner.
They were presented their Awards by His Excellency Dr Richard Davies.
The students were supported by their proud parents, Robyn Bruce (Award Leader), Ken Hames ( National Chair of DOE Hillary Award) and Sharlene McCormick( DOE Board member).
The Gold Award is an exceptional achievement and places them amongst the few who manage to attain it over the course of four years of extra curricular activities.

Following are the citations from the students, as found in the Gold Award ceremony Handbook, :
Connor Alcock : The award gave me more courage to step up into leadership roles. It impacted my life by showing me nature and how us humans can go anywhere. I built strong friendships and memories.
Chloe Comer : Completing the Duke Of Edinburgh"s Award taught me valuable lessons in perseverance and motivated me to try new things and expand my skills. I have gained so many incredible experiences and opportunities to grow through the award and I feel it has opened my eyes to new possibilities.
Sonya Steiner : DOE has impacted my life in a positive way, as it has strengthened my mental health. It has shown me lots of places around New Zealand that not many people get to see in their lifetime.
Congratulations to you all!
May you keep exploring and enjoying the Great Outdoors remembering that   "The best view is always after the hardest climb."

New Zealand Secondary School Cross Country Champs - Denika Clooney 2nd in Senior Girls

On the weekend of the 14th and 15th of June approximately 700 students from all around the Country competed in the NZSS Cross Country at Barge Park in Whangarei.
A huge congratulations to Denika Clooney who placed 2nd in the Senior girls 4000m race which had 110 competitors. Denika's time was 14.37.  Denika also raced in the Northland/North Harbour senior girls relay team who placed 2nd. 

Market Day 

On Tuesday, 17th of June, our annual Market Day event was run by the Year 10 & Year 11 Commerce students. It is the highlight of the year for our fast growing subject area, and both Robyn Baker and myself are immensely proud of how organised, creative and dedicated all our groups were. We would also like to thank all of the students and staff who got involved, with roughly $5000 turned over during the event.

Music Month

To wrap up Aotearoa Music Month, our incredible musicians celebrated by putting on a wicked concert. It was epic to showcase Ōtamatea’s incredible talent and have so many there jamming along supporting.
On the final day of NZMM, the music class received some very exciting news. Every year, the New Zealand Music Commission runs a competition for all schools across the country. You film a class cover of any classic kiwi tune and go in the drawer to win a massive prize pack of music gear and goodies. Our cover of Benee's Glitter was one of the EIGHT schools that was awarded an awesome pack !! - Watch the vid here!! click here We're thrilled to receive the prize and can't wait to rock out with the gear. 
Be sure to keep an ear out for Olla Podriga - our school talent show - coming up next term, where you can expect to see even more of our fantastic talent !!
Maggie

Competition winner

Lisa Benson from the Regent Training Centre came to school to give Paikea Littlejohn some EarPods. He entered a competition with Regent Training back during the careers day at school and he won the competition.
Congratulations Paikea!

Year 7 Poetry Café

Celebrating the Art of Words – Year 7 Poetry Café 2025

On Wednesday, 25 June, our annual Year 7 Poetry Café once again proved to be a highlight on the Otamatea High School calendar. This long-standing event has become a cherished tradition, and this year did not disappoint. Our talented Year 7 students proudly shared their original poetry, showcasing creativity, courage, and deep reflection.

It was heartwarming to see our tauira (students) step into the spotlight and express themselves with such confidence. Each performance was met with smiles, applause, and admiration from our audience. The students not only impressed with their writing but also demonstrated wonderful manaakitanga as hosts, warmly welcoming and caring for our whānau throughout the event.
A heartfelt thank you to all the whānau who took time out of their busy schedules to attend and support our young poets. Your presence meant a great deal to the students and staff alike.

We are incredibly proud of our Year 7 learners – ngā mihi nui ki a koutou!

Collegiate Hockey Term 2 - 2025 Report

It has been an exciting term for the 2025 Collegiate Hockey Team. There have been some nail biting moments at both our goal ( with Max the Goalie stopping some game winning goals) and at our opponents goals where the team has been working together well to score some game winning goals. The end game scores don't reflect the effort that the team puts into every game.  Due to a timetabling change Ōtamatea ended up playing one of the best teams in the division twice in quick succession. 

Felix has become a phenomenal Captain really pulling the team together, helping rally them into positions and running point . The players from last year  Ethan, Cooper, Teela, Paige, Leinare, Luke and Lucy have been helping support and train our new players in 2025 : Sophie, Liam, Chloē, Alyanna and Percy. Several of our new players are not just new to the team but also new to hockey.  Each week has brought improvements, with the team working well together. 

Games are played every Monday at the Northland Hockey Grounds.

Student safety 

Here are the safety guidelines for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up at our kura, with a focus on bus safety:
Safety is the top priority when dropping off or collecting students. Please adhere to the following guidelines:
- Use the Designated Drop-off/Pick-up Zone: This area is specifically designed to provide a safe space for students to enter and exit the school grounds (see attachment).
- Avoid Bus Zones: Do not park in the bus turnaround bay or the bus parking area. These areas need to remain clear for bus operations.
- Driving Past Buses: When leaving the school, and especially when driving past buses, remember the New Zealand road rule:
Slow Down to 20 km/h: If a stationary school bus has stopped to pick up or drop off children, you must slow down to a maximum speed of 20 km/h.
Maintain Speed Until Clear: Continue at 20 km/h until you are well past the bus.
Applies Regardless of Lights: This rule applies whether or not the bus has flashing lights, as long as it is stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading children.

Report an absence

You can notify the school of an absence using the school parent portal, by phone at 0800 682 628, option 1, or by emailing attendance@otamatea.school.nz
If you need help with accessing the parent portal please email Mrs Cadman alison.cadman@otamatea.school.nz

Property for Rent

The school currently has a three-bedroom schoolhouse available for rent within Maungaturoto.
The tenancy will be subject to certain strict conditions and applicants must provide evidence of permanent employment and excellent tenancy references. Any offer of tenancy will be dependent upon the applicant passing a police check.
For further details and to request an application form please email richard.reed@otamatea.school.nz in the first instance.