Last updated October 2026
Bethlehem School is a state, co-educational primary school for Years 1 to 6 at 66 Carmichael Road, Bethlehem, Tauranga. It opened in 1883 and had 434 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes parts of Bethlehem, Judea and Tauriko; the zone map below shows the full boundary. The school has three English-medium teams following the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Paeroa, a rumaki team of three classes where te reo Māori is the language of learning under Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, with close ties to local hapū and kōhanga reo. Its site describes a heated swimming pool, a hall, and a garden and greenhouse on semi-rural grounds, and the school welcomes international students.
At a glance
- Principal
- Catherine Neidhardt
- Address
- 66 Carmichael Road, Bethlehem, Tauranga
- Phone
- 07 576 4726
Home zone
Parts of these suburbs: Bethlehem, Judea and Tauriko: 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 434 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
2 international students
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a Te Ara Huarau School Profile Report from June 2023. This kind of report sets out what ERO and the school will evaluate together, here how well a bicultural local curriculum lifts student engagement and links learning to local places and people.
ERO pointed to a collaborative staff culture exploring new teaching practice, a supportive school community with stronger links to local iwi, and a strong sense of identity and local history.
Next, the school plans to keep developing a local curriculum that reflects the kura’s bicultural history and identity, build teachers’ use of responsive teaching and assessment, and create learning that helps students take more ownership of their own progress.
Read the ERO reports for Bethlehem School
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol, online, on a printed form or in person, with proof of address and a birth certificate or passport, and in-zone families are asked to enrol well before their child starts.
Out-of-zone places are offered under the enrolment scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places, and the school opens out-of-zone applications on its enrolment page each year.
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 Bethlehem
Bethlehem School is in Bethlehem. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Bethlehem guide →Questions parents ask
Is Bethlehem School zoned?
It has a home zone covering parts of Bethlehem, Judea and Tauriko.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 6.
How many students go there?
434 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
It may. It is not in the donation scheme, so it can ask families for donations.
What is its Equity Index?
423. 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, 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).