Te Kōpuku High

Te Kōpuku High takes its name from the nīkau palm, the only palm indigenous to Aotearoa, New Zealand. The kōpuku or crownshaft which is the bulge at the base of the leaves, symbolises the role that the school plays in the life of the student as one of the ‘layers of care’. The other layers include the student’s friends, different services, their community and at the core, their iwi , hapū and whānau. Te Kōpuku High forms one of the outer layers which will eventually fall away once the student leaves us, having played an important role in the growth of the student.

The oval shape of the kōpuku is represented in our school logo within the letter “o”. The four koru within it suggest layers and also represent the four themes of our curriculum - wai (water), whenua (land), kai (sustenance) and hau (air).Te Kōpuku High was established as a Partnership or Charter School funded by the Ministry of Education in 2016 as a result of an agreement between the National and ACT parties. We opened our doors to the first cohort of year 7 - 9 mokopuna in 2017. 

Partnership Schools were operated by sponsors and enjoyed greater autonomy than State Schools. Our main sponsor was Kia Ata Mai Educational Trust established in 1994. The primary purpose of the Trust is to initiate, develop and support Māori educational initiatives. 

We acknowledge the generosity of our landlord, (Modern Transport Engineers owned by the Ratcliffe family) in allowing us to operate as a school on their site. Both Kia Ata Mai and Modern Transport Engineers continue to support the school/kura in a variety of ways.

In 2018, Te Kōpuku High became a Special Character school after the Labour-led coalition government removed Partnership Schools as an educational option. Despite a change in status, we have rigorously safeguarded the integrity of our original teaching and learning programme.

• Region: Waikato
• Co Ed Status: Co-Educational
• Roll Total: 209
• Authority: State