There are 17 primary schools in the district, one intermediate school and two secondary schools. There are a number of tertiary institutions available within the district including Waiariki Institute of Technology, a key tertiary provider in the Waikato. Several private training establishments and language schools are also located in Taupo.

According to geological records Lake Taupo was created approximately 27,000 years ago by a huge volcanic eruption, the volcano has erupted 28 times since then.

Oruanui is the largest eruption that occurred. It ejected an estimated 1,170 cubic kilometres of material and caused several hundred square kilometres of surrounding land to collapse and form the caldera—"a large crater formed by volcanic explosion or by collapse of a volcanic cone".