Taranaki is a region in the North Island of New Zealand. It contains numerous rural primary schools, some small town primary and secondary schools, and city schools in the New Plymouth area. Area schools in isolated areas provide complete education from primary to secondary level. Intermediate schools exist in New Plymouth, Waitara, and Hāwera.
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All schools are coeducational except for the boys' schools of Francis Douglas Memorial College and New Plymouth Boys' High School and the girls' schools of New Plymouth Girls' High School, Sacred Heart Girls' College, and Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls.
There are two Kura Kaupapa Māori schools in the South Taranaki District, and one in New Plymouth. These schools teach solely or principally in the Māori language. [1] The name "Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o (placename)" can be translated as "The Kaupapa Maori School of (placename)".
In New Zealand schools, students begin formal education in Year 1 at the age of five. [2] Year 13 is the final year of secondary education. Years 14 and 15 refer to adult education facilities.
State schools are those fully funded by the government and at which no fees can be charged to domestic student (i.e. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, and Australian citizens), although a donation is commonly requested. [3] A state integrated school is a state school with a special character based on a religious or philosophical belief. A private school charges fees to its students. [4]
The Socio-Economic Decile is a widely used measure in education in New Zealand used to allocate funding and support. A rating of 1 indicates a poor area; a rating of 10 a well-off one. [5] The decile ratings used here come from the Ministry of Education Te Kete Ipurangi website and from the decile change spreadsheet listed in the references. The deciles were last revised using information from the 2006 Census. [6] The roll of each school changes frequently as students start school for the first time, move between schools, and graduate. The rolls given here are those provided by the Ministry of Education, based on figures from July 2025. [7] The Ministry of Education institution number, given in the last column, links to the Education Counts page for each school.