Each student is enrolled in one of four whanau, and it is for these groups that students compete in our major school activities.

- Moana
- Whenua
- Maunga
- Awa

When Coastal Taranaki School was established in 2005, staff had an opportunity to name our four new whanau or ‘house groups’. Two staff members, Deborah Haimona and Barbara Fakavamoe’anga, were inspired to follow a theme which would represent Coastal Taranaki School’s contributing regions.

Our local landscape is significant, so it was this theme that seemed appropriate. The mountain, Maunga, stands in all its glory and can be seen from all parts of Taranaki. Flowing from the mountain are rivers, Awa. Many families have a local river with which they associate. The rivers flow through the land, Whenua, of families, marae and of course our homes and school. The rivers then flowon to the ocean, Moana, which graces our coastline and is an integral part of our lifestyle here in Okato.