Te Whata Tau o Putauaki

Te Whata Tau o Putauaki is a co-educational composite school in Kawerau, within the Bay of Plenty Region, operating in the state sector, with 95 students on roll, and an Equity Index of 541. The school has been open since 2012.

With 95 students on roll, Te Whata Tau o Putauaki is a small school — larger than about 25% of New Zealand schools.

The school's Equity Index is 541, which is well above the national average of 463. A higher Equity Index signals greater socio-economic need in the school's community — schools in this band receive more targeted government funding and support. The gap of 78 points is substantial enough to matter when comparing schools.

The roll is genuinely diverse: no single ethnic group dominates, with Pasifika at 50% and European at 25%. Diversity of this kind is common in urban New Zealand schools.

On the isolation index the school scores 0.87 (high isolation) — this measures how far students travel and how accessible the school is, not how good it is.