From Our Principal

Maraetai Beach School is a full primary (Years 1 to 8).

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

Hello everybody and warm greetings to you all.

My name is Steve Harper-Travers and I have been one of the Deputy Principals here at MBS since the start of 2021. For Term 2 I am the Acting Principal, something I am really looking forward to.

Maraetai Beach School is a growing school with a school roll that currently sits at just over 480 students - our largest roll ever. Maraetai Beach School stands on the whenua of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki has been educating children in Maraetai since 1879. From this whenua our school looks out over the safe waters of Maraetai, to the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. We are lucky to be surrounded by beautiful beaches and regional parks. Encouraging our whole community to look after our environment is very important to us, as you will see from our current strategic plan.

Our school’s vision is to ‘grow a community of successful lifelong learners’ through People, Potential and Planet and our strategic plan sets the direction of this vision. The vision is underpinned by our school values named ‘Tō Tātou Ara’- Our Way. Our school values promote resilience (manawaroa), excellence (rawe), integrity (ngākau tapatahi) and respect (whakaute). Here at Maraetai Beach School, we want every child to achieve their potential and be the best they can be. We want all our children to be engaged, confident and resilient learners. We recognise that every child is unique and brings with them a range of talents that need to be nurtured and grown in a safe, secure and challenging learning environment.

Our 2023 Education Review Office (ERO) Report found the key strengths of our school were:

• students experience a school learning climate that is consistently positive and culturally responsive, promoting their engagement through respectful relationships

• learner progress and achievement outcomes are equitable and excellent for all ākonga and are supported through teaching that is relevant, challenging and meaningful

• the school has sustainable, high levels of professional capability and collective capacity to continually improve and innovate

• the board effectively scrutinises its own and the school’s performance in achieving equity and excellence to inform planning and resourcing for ongoing and sustained improvement.

We have very strong parent and community involvement and highly value these partnerships.

Our students are a very special group, friendly, confident and strongly motivated to learn. Maraetai Beach School is proud to be a PB4L School ( Positive Behaviour for Learning School), Gold Travelwise School and Gold Enviro School. The school is also a member of the Howick Coast Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako.