Last updated October 2026
Taupo Intermediate is a state, co-educational intermediate school for Years 7 and 8 at 22 Kotare Street, Hilltop, Taupo. It opened in 1969 and had 504 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes 16 suburbs in full and parts of 3 more, among them Rotokawa, Kinloch, Maunganamu, Two Mile Bay, Waitahanui and Wairakei; the zone map below shows the full boundary.
The school’s site lists kapa haka, band and music groups, a school production every second year and learning languages, with sport ranging from triathlon, mountain biking and road cycling to skiing, equestrian and the AIMS Games. Its outdoor education programme includes a Mt Tauhara climb, a five-day coastal camp and a whole-school ski day at Whakapapa.
At a glance
- Principal
- Brent Woods
- Address
- 22 Kotare Street, Hilltop, Taupo
- Phone
- 07 378 8097
Home zone
Suburbs in the zone: all of Rotokawa, Wairakei, Rangatira Park, Richmond Heights, Tauhara, Rainbow Point, Wharewaka, Waipahihi, Hilltop, Taupō Central, Nukuhau, Acacia Bay, Two Mile Bay, Maunganamu, Kinloch and Waitahanui.
Parts of Oruanui, Ohakuri and Iwitahi: 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 504 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.
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 July 2024. ERO found that achievement in reading, writing and maths needs to rise a long way, with wide gaps for boys in writing and for Māori students across all three areas.
On the other side, most students attend regularly, engagement has lifted markedly after a deliberate focus on meaningful learning, and students with additional needs are making sound progress towards their own goals. Leaders and the board are working together on the changes needed, classrooms are calm and settled, and programmes drawing on tikanga and te ao Māori are being built.
The agreed next steps are to grow teachers’ skill at speeding up progress through a local curriculum, make better use of reliable assessment information, set clear strategic and annual plans with the community, and involve whānau and the Māori community more closely.
ERO also asked the board to put right areas where it was not meeting its obligations and to set up firmer systems so students are kept safe at school.
Read the ERO reports for Taupo Intermediate
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol. Out-of-zone places are offered under the enrolment scheme, and when a priority group has more applicants than places, places in that group are decided by ballot.
The school says it runs no special programmes, so siblings of current students come first. The board sets the number of out-of-zone places each year and gives the ballot date by public notice.
Applications are made online through HERO. The school charges no enrolment fee, and class placements are generally confirmed towards the end of Term 4.
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 Hilltop
Taupo Intermediate is in Hilltop. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Hilltop guide →Questions parents ask
Is Taupo Intermediate zoned?
It has a home zone covering all of Rotokawa, Wairakei, Rangatira Park, Richmond Heights, Tauhara, Rainbow Point, Wharewaka, Waipahihi, Hilltop, Taupō Central, Nukuhau, Acacia Bay, Two Mile Bay, Maunganamu, Kinloch and Waitahanui and parts of Oruanui, Ohakuri and Iwitahi.
What years does it teach?
Years 7 to 8.
How many students go there?
504 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?
472. 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.
School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 22 Oct 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). Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
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