ABOUT US

At Joseph's School Waitara is very much a small "family style" school. St Joseph’s School Waitara is an integrated Catholic Primary School for boys and girls inclusive of Year 0 to Year 8 children. We have a distinct dimension within our school, which is referred to as the “Special Character”. Within this, we are able to live and teach the values of Christ Jesus. Our School WAKA values, Whanaungatanga, Aroha, Kaitiakitanga and Aumangea are woven throughout our whole curriculum and learning.

All staff know all students and all students know all staff. This means personal involvement, effort and achievement is recognised and acknowledged on an individual basis, and that every person matters.

We are an inclusive school, welcoming students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. Students are encouraged to interact with others across the school in a supportive and caring manner.

At St Joseph's School Waitara, the students are our focus. Their development as successful individuals in all areas of the curriculum is what we strive to achieve. As a small school, our students are able to get involved in many opportunities and to develop their leadership skills in a variety of ways. Students have a real voice within our school, and our curriculum delivery is responsive to student and community needs and interests.

Community engagement is very important to us at St Joseph's School Waitara. We want to work together with parents, whānau and the wider community to ensure that all of our learners learn and achieve across and beyond the curriculum.

Vision and Values

Vision: Within a supportive Catholic Community, we challenge our students to achieve academic success, spiritual growth and positive citizenship, personalised learning and contribution to society.

Values

Our School values are: WAKA - Whanaungatanga (Relationships), Aroha (Love/Respect), Kaitiakitanga (Responsibility), Aumangea (Resilience)

Our Logo

St Joseph's Waitara Logo is linked to our local curriculum. The Mountain (mounga) represents Mt Taranaki. This has the river (awa), the sea (moana), the land (whenua) woven throughout the logo to represent our local environment. The cross represents our Catholic Faith and the koru design is lifelong learning.

Our History

St Joseph’s school ( formerly St Patrick’s ) was staffed by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. These Mission Sisters begin with the story of the courage, faith and hope of four young French Sisters who came to New Zealand following the inspiration of Euphraise Barbier. She inspired the RNDM way of life, spirit and the Charism that now belongs to our school.

With the passing of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act in 1975, the then private 'church' schools had the opportunity to enter the state education system which allowed schools who entered, access to state funding while maintaining their 'Catholic identity.' Each school has their own integration agreement with the government and within this agreement allows for the church to retain ownership of the buildings and its Catholic character while being able to access funding on the same footing as state schools relating to curriculum.

Our Facilities

We have just had the interior of all of our classes done. We have modern classes with wet areas and a break out space in between the classes.

There are 6 classes and a library. We have a school swimming pool and our fields are spacious. There are netball and basketball courts and we have a brand new playground that was finished in February 2023. Along our school fields we have the wetlands in which we use these for Environmental and outdoor learning programmes.

Our Parish is situated right next to our school.

Tohu Design

Page updated