Pacific Coast Technical Institute

02/04/2026

🌿🐣 Happy Easter from our team at Pacific Coast Technical Institute 🐣🌿

Wishing all of our tauira, whānau, and wider community a safe, relaxing, and joy-filled Easter. May this time bring you rest, connection, and a fresh sense of energy for the journey ahead.

We’re so proud of the growth, resilience, and commitment shown by our learners this year — take this time to recharge, you’ve earned it 💛

Enjoy the long weekend, stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you back soon!

Ngā mihi nui,
The PCTI Team

19/03/2026

🍕 Real World Learning in Action!
Our Level 1 & 2 Youth Guarantee class recently had the awesome opportunity to visit Hell Pizza in Tauranga — and what an experience it was!
Rangatahi got a behind-the-scenes look at a fast-paced, industrial kitchen, learning firsthand what it takes to work in the hospitality industry. From food prep to pizza assembly, everyone rolled up their sleeves and created their own pizzas from scratch. 🙌
Experiences like this are all about bringing learning to life — giving our students the chance to build confidence, develop practical skills, and explore real career pathways in a supportive environment.
A huge thank you to the team at Hell Pizza Tauranga for hosting us and making the day so engaging and memorable!

03/03/2026

🌱 From classroom to cultivation 🌱

Our Trades Academy Horticulture students from Hillcrest High School are getting stuck in — building garden beds, prepping soil, and learning real-world skills that grow confidence as well as crops.
This is what hands-on learning looks like: teamwork, problem-solving, practical skills, and a whole lot of mahi under the sun ☀️
Trades Academy is all about pathways — connecting school to industry, qualifications, and future careers. And these students are putting in the work.
Watch this space… things are growing 🌿

19/02/2026

Have you finished school and love animals? 🐾 Are animals and Aquatic Fish your passion?

Gain a NZQA Level 3 qualification with flexible online study, practical learning, and real tutor support — all with ZERO fees.

Start your pathway to an animal-related career today.

[email protected]
027 553 9210

🐶🐠

18/02/2026

A shared kaupapa, a shared commitment.
We’re pleased to collaborate with Empowered Youth Education Centre in supporting rangatahi and the community to build confidence, capability and positive pathways and futures.

We are proud and excited to let you all know that we now have the empowerED Youth Education Centre up and running at 32 Haszard St here in Waihī.
25 of our precious young people have so far joined us on their educational journey for 2026.
(With details below) Working out of the empowerED Youth Education Centre site so far is Bay Pathways, Pacific Coast Technical Institute and ACE (Adult and Community Education Programmes).

Bay Pathways
In collaboration with Waihī College, we provide alternative education (offsite from Waihī College) for 12-16 year-olds providing hands-on support for students core education needs.

Pacific Coast Technical Instititute
Well established in Waihī for the last two years with resounding success, PCTI runs the Youth Guarantee Programme re-engaging 16-20 year olds in education with the view to them achieving NCEA Level One and Two and also supporting them into either further learning or the workforce.
PCTI also runs the Waihi College Trades Programme for Food or Beverage Manufacturing, this is run out the OceanaGold Waihī Moresby Ave site. Many thanks to OceanaGold Waihī for their generous free use of this site over the last few years.
Periodically we also run Adult and Community Education programmes, most recently focussing on Ai skill development for seniors.

Community Support Services Hub
Waihī has fantastic support services available to our young people. In 2025 we co-ordinated an ongoing and centralised hub for Social Support Services, Counselling Services, Youth Justice Services, NZ Police, Attendance Services and Waihī College. We have found providing a collective safety-net for our young people and re-engaging them has been incredibly successful. Our collective goal is ensuring no young person here in Waihī misses their opportunity to realise their potential, this is a team effort and we so appreciate all involved in sharing this Kaupapa.

What’s Next?

After School Youth Drop-in Programme
We are well underway with planning for providing a reliable and fun After School Youth drop-in space with kai and social opportunities. This is something that we feel is severely needed in Waihī by some of our young people. We are certainly looking for support in this area.

Whanau Learning Support Programme
We fully recognise for some of young people navigating the education system with
A variety of Learning Differences can be unbelievably challenging for them and their whanau.
We strongly believe that individual learning differences are in fact ‘super-powers’ if understood and approached in the right way. We are looking to provide programmes around this space for students and whanau. Please watch this space for opportunities to get together and gain insight to what is truly possible for these young people.

Special Thanks
We would like to thank the Spicer, Osborne-Sole, Te Wake and Graverson extended whanau for their help in painting our new site over the summer break. Our young people certainly feel valued with such a fresh, light and spacious environment.

Space Available for Lease
As a side note, obviously running a site this large is incredibly expensive. We do offer the the opportunity to sub-lease the entire site from Friday to Sunday weekly. Alongside this we also have an office with a separate entrance also available for sub-lease (full or part-time).

If you have any ideas and/or are interested in sponsoring or supporting us, please feel free to contact us anytime if you want to chat.

All the best,
Ngā mihi

Cat & Scott

05/02/2026

We are excited to partner with Live Well Waihi Beach to deliver these popular workshops for anyone interested in learning more about the world of Ai. Get in touch to secure your spot 👨‍💻👩‍💻📲

Live Well is excited to team up with Pacific Coast Technical Institute to bring you a FREE Introduction to AI! 💻✨

Learn the basics, explore what AI can do, and discover how you can use it in everyday life.

When: Fri 10 Feb
Time: 10am - 1pm
How: To register, email Cat at [email protected]. Only 10 spots available — they’ll go fast!

05/11/2025

🎓🐾 Zero Fees NZQA Animal Care Course – Level 3 🐮🐶
🚨 FREE Online Learning Opportunity! 🚨

Are you passionate about animals? Do you care for their future health and wellbeing? Are you ready to turn that passion into a qualification?

Enrol now in the NZQA Animal Care (Level 3) course – choose between the Companion Animal or Rural Animal strand – and study at ZERO fees!

Course Highlights:

✅ Fully Online Delivery – Study from anywhere in NZ, with dedicated tutor support every step of the way.
✅ 4 Modules – 32 Weeks Total – Learn all the essential animal care skills through engaging, real-world content.
✅ Practical Observations – Get hands-on experience! You’ll need a verifier (someone experienced in Companion Animal or Rural Animal care) to sign off on your practical tasks.

📸 Photo evidence of your work is an important part of completing your qualification.

Requirements:

• 🏠 Must be a New Zealand Citizen
• 🎓 16 years or older

This qualification is delivered by PCTI, based in Tauranga, proudly offering industry-based qualifications that help you take the next step in your career in animal care.

📩 For more information or to apply, contact Kathy at [email protected]
💬 Spaces are limited – start your journey caring for animals today!

05/11/2025

🐝🍯🐝
Our students (and bees) have been hard at work!!

🐝 A sweet surprise from the students! 🍯

We recently received some delicious raw New Zealand honey made right here on Donald’s Farm in Brookby. The honey was cared for and harvested by the Year 12 and 13 Horticulture students from James Cook High School, as part of their apiculture course — in partnership with Beez Thingz Ltd and Pacific Coast Technical Institute.

It is great to see young people learning hands-on skills and seeing the results of their hard work (and the bees’ hard work too!). 🐝💛

05/11/2025

🎉 Zero Fees Aquatic Fish Industry Skills Course (Level 3) 🐟💻
🚨 FREE Online Training Opportunity! 🚨

Love aquariums, fish or the underwater world? 🌿🐡 This is your chance to turn that passion into a career!

Dive into this NZQA-approved Aquatic Fish Industry Skills Course (micro-credential) Level 3 - and the best part?

✅ Zero Fees – Study absolutely free from the comfort of your own home!
✅ Fully Online Learning – learn at your pace with full tutor support throughout.
✅ 4 Engaging Modules – Complete your qualification in just 22 weeks (5.5 weeks per module).
✅ Practical Experience – Show your fish-keeping skills through verified photo-based tasks.

You will need:

🏠 To be a New Zealand Citizen
🎓 Aged 16 years or older
💧 A verifier (someone experienced in fish keeping) to confirm your practical work.

Delivered by PCTI (based in Tauranga) – a trusted, vocational provider helping learners build real world skills that make a difference. 🌿

📩 Keen to know more or enrol?
Email Kathy at [email protected] today - limited spots available!!!

💥 Start your journey into the aquatic world - study online, gain skills and swim towards your new career!

#

AquaticIndustry

30/10/2025

The sweet sum of our learning🧁

Our learners are continuing their numeracy journey, putting measurement and quantities into real-life practice. Who else works best with hands-on learning?

26/10/2025

We hope you’re enjoying the long weekend and feeling refreshed for the week ahead! Tav and the rest of our tutors are looking forward to getting back into their element and supporting our learners this week.