Last updated November 2026
Waimataitai School is a state, co-educational full primary school for Years 1 to 8 at 25 Trafalgar Street, Timaru. It opened in 1882 and had 475 students on its roll at 1 October 2026.
Its home zone includes all of Maori Hill and Timaru Central, and parts of Seaview, Waimataitai, Highfield and West End; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site lists weekly kapa haka for all students, a Pasifika group, tutors for most instruments as well as choir and drama, the Perceptual Motor Programme for Years 1 and 2, and English language teaching for students who need it. It is an Enviroschool, and after-school care runs on weekdays in the school hall.
At a glance
- Principal
- Lara Sargent (Acting)
- Address
- 25 Trafalgar Street, Timaru
- Phone
- 03 684 5566
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Maori Hill and Timaru Central.
Parts of Seaview Timaru, Waimataitai Timaru, Highfield Timaru and West End: check your street.
Zone boundaries are set by the school’s enrolment scheme and can change. Confirm your address with the school before you rely on it.
Who goes here
Share of the 475 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
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.
Suspensions: fewer than 5 cases in 2025, so no rate is shown.
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 Report from September 2025. ERO noted recent changes in the leadership team and found good teaching in reading, writing and maths, with a large majority of students at or above the expected curriculum level, though results are not yet equal across groups.
Positive behaviour expectations are well established, students say they belong and have people to turn to, staff value the school’s many cultures, and significant resourcing helps students with a wide range of needs learn alongside their peers.
ERO also raised serious concerns: the school is not yet assessing achievement reliably, has yet to show improved progress for students most at risk, is not on track for the Government’s 2030 targets, and only a small majority of students attend regularly.
ERO said the school needs to make sure its learning environment is physically and emotionally safe, and it found gaps in workforce safety checks and police vetting of non-teaching staff, which the board has since taken steps to fix.
The key priorities are school-wide teaching, assessment and reporting practice in literacy and maths aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum, clearer achievement targets for students who need to catch up, checking which teaching and interventions work, and higher attendance.
Read the ERO reports for Waimataitai School
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol. Out-of-zone places are offered under the enrolment scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places.
The board sets the number of out-of-zone places each year, there are two enrolment periods a year, and application details are given by newspaper notice. As the school runs no special programme, siblings of current students come first.
Families send the enrolment form with a birth certificate or visa and passport, an immunisation record, and proof of address for in-zone students. The school suggests new entrant families decide about six months ahead and book a visit with the principal.
Schools nearby
Where students go next
Based on home zones around the school’s own address. Families can apply to any school, and your own address decides which zones you are in.
In Maori Hill
Waimataitai School is in Maori Hill. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Maori Hill guide →Questions parents ask
Is Waimataitai School zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Maori Hill and Timaru Central and parts of Seaview Timaru, Waimataitai Timaru, Highfield Timaru and West End.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 8.
How many students go there?
475 at 1 Oct 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?
464. 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.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 7 Nov 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Home zone: Ministry of Education enrolment zones (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).