Te Puru School is a co-educational full primary school with approximately 180 students.

Te Puru School is nestled between the hills and the sea, located on the beautiful Thames Coast, Coromandel Peninsula. The school is situated 12 km north of the Thames township.

The school grounds of 1.6 hectares, have a beach frontage of 200 metres and riparian rights enable us to take full advantage of the coastal environment.

We have a swimming pool and also make use of the sea for water based activities. There is a range of outside spaces. As well as the beach we have an asphalt court area, grassed areas, an adventure pirate ship playground, activity centre (outside playground) and a large sports/assembly/school productions hall.

We are located on the beach side where our tamariki can use this magical beachside environment as their playground and a base for nature inspired learning.

Our unique location enables us to develop a rich learning curriculum that links naturally to our coastal environment. This has enabled us to create an authentic local curriculum where students are immersed in the natural seasonal changes, local ecosystems, adventure based activities and the history of their surroundings.

Our students also get to experience beach play daily and learning this connects them to the real world. They imagine, explore and invent. Here our tamariki take risks, and discover new ideas about our environment including how to protect and preserve it. They then put these ideas into action.

We believe in learning through play. Play is a child’s natural way of exploring the world we live in and our beach environment provides a magnificent base for this. Playing in this natural environment provides learning opportunities that are multi-sensory, interactive, creative and imaginative.