Cotswold Mātāhae School celebrates New Zealand's cultural diversity, and strives to ensure that all students feel culturally safe and valued. We aim to create a learning environment that is caring, inclusive, cohesive, and supports the cultural and linguistic diversity of our students. We appreciate that students may identify with more than one cultural group.

Our cultural diversity is a valuable resource for 21st-century learning. 

We recognise, value, and celebrate the different cultures represented within our inclusive school community. Examples include:

• encouraging staff cultural competence and demonstrating an awareness of and respect for diverse cultural values and practices
• being sensitive to all religious beliefs and belief systems
• working to confront and eliminate racism, discrimination, stigma, and bullying in education
• supporting students and families for whom English is not their first language, including English language support for eligible students
• integrating and reflecting diverse cultural perspectives, identities, experiences, and histories through our school environment and curriculum areas as appropriate
• providing opportunities for students, their families, staff, and the wider school community to contribute to the cultural life of the school
• celebrating festivals and significant holidays from a range of cultures
• running our own cultural events and activities.

Our school hosts international students and our international programme is designed to increase and enhance our students’ awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries. 

We respect the unique position of Māori as tangata whenua (the indigenous people) of New Zealand and te reo Māori as an official New Zealand language. We also acknowledge the diversity of Māori and Māori learners.

We foster tikanga Māori at our school through:

• engaging with Ka Hikitia Ka Hāpaitia: The Māori Education Strategy
• integrating te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori into school life and the curriculum, as appropriate, to reflect the dual cultural heritage of New Zealand
• developing productive relationships with whānau, local iwi and hapū, and Māori cultural advisors, as appropriate
• holding whānau hui (family meetings) and convening whānau groups.

If a higher level of tikanga Māori and/or te reo Māori is requested, staff and whānau discuss and explore options such as:

• explaining existing programmes more fully
• extending existing programmes if and as appropriate
• providing in-school support and resources to further enhance inclusion of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori for the student, if possible
• using community expertise (people and organisations) to help with any of the above
• combining with another school for parts of the day/programme or exploring other schools that may offer programmes.

We respect the place of Pacific peoples and cultures in New Zealand and acknowledge the diversity of Pacific learners and their families.

At Cotswold Mātāhae School, we support engagement and excellent outcomes for Pacific learners by engaging with the Ministry of Education's Action Plan for Pacific Education, and integrating diverse Pacific cultural values, histories, experiences, customs, and languages into curriculum areas, where appropriate.

We foster Pacific culture by supporting our Pasifika culture group, marking Pacific language weeks, and holding fono evenings. Fono evenings are an opportunity to engage with our school community and local Pacific families and communities to discuss educational needs and opportunities.