Last updated October 2026
Tamatea High School is a state, co-educational secondary school for Years 9 to 13 at 61 Freyberg Avenue, Greenmeadows, Napier. It opened in 1975 and had 342 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
It has no home zone, so any student can apply. The school’s site describes Rua tē Pāia, a te reo Māori immersion and bilingual pathway for Year 9 and 10 students in which core subjects are taught in te reo Māori, along with individual learning pathways, supported learning programmes and whānau groups that mix students from every year level. It lists kapa haka as a subject through to Year 13, art and photography, music bands, debating and sports from waka ama and kī-o-rahi to basketball, and takes international students.
At a glance
- Principal
- Jesse Te Weehi
- Address
- 61 Freyberg Avenue, Greenmeadows, Napier
- Phone
- 06 844 6600
Home zone
No home zone: any student can apply to enrol. If more students apply than there are places, the school decides how places are offered.
NCEA results
School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with all New Zealand school leavers.
This school New Zealand
School leavers are students who left school that year, whatever year level they left from.
Who goes here
Share of the 342 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
8 international students
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Stand-downs and suspensions
Cases per 1,000 students in 2025, adjusted for the ages of the school’s students, compared with all New Zealand schools.
These measure how a school responds to behaviour, and schools set their own thresholds, so they are not a measure of how students behave.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a School Evaluation Report from April 2026. ERO found progress becoming evident, with NCEA Level 1 literacy and numeracy results recovering after a decline, a new senior leadership team with a clear focus on better outcomes, te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori woven through the curriculum, and course design that better matches students’ strengths and career goals. ERO also found that achievement needs to improve.
Only a small majority of students gain NCEA Levels 2 and 3, few gain University Entrance, results differ between boys and girls, and by the end of Year 10 less than a third of students are at the expected level in reading, writing and maths.
Fewer than a third of students attend regularly, well short of the government target, and chronic absence has been rising. In the Rua tē Pāia immersion class, ERO noted strong whānau involvement and culturally grounded learning, but attendance and progress in some subjects also need to improve.
ERO’s priorities are for the school to finish and share an attendance plan, build leaders’ and teachers’ ability to use data to improve learning and wellbeing, take a focused approach for students at risk of underachieving, check whether changes to teaching are making a difference, and write a strategic plan for Rua tē Pāia.
ERO also recommended that the Ministry of Education give the school tailored support with attendance and with collecting and using data.
Read the ERO reports for Tamatea High School
Enrolling
Tamatea High School has no home zone and its site says it accepts enrolments from students all over Napier. Families of Tamatea Intermediate students receive an enrolment pack, and others can make an enquiry through the online form on the enrolment page or ask the school office for an application.
Every new student has an enrolment interview with a member of the senior leadership team, and a birth certificate or passport is needed with the application. The school publishes its Year 9 enrolment process on its enrolment page each year.
Schools nearby
In Tamatea
Tamatea High School is in Tamatea. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Tamatea guide →Questions parents ask
Is Tamatea High School zoned?
No. It has no home zone, so any student can apply to enrol.
What years does it teach?
Years 9 to 13.
How many students go there?
342 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
No. It is in the donation scheme, so it only asks for donations for school camps.
What is its Equity Index?
532. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
How did its school leavers do in NCEA?
In 2025, 60.9% of its school leavers had NCEA Level 2 or above, compared with 77.8% of all New Zealand school leavers.
School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 22 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0). Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
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