263 State Highway 12 , Omapere, Kaikohe
View on mapTēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.
We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.
Opononi Area School is in the Hokianga region of Northland. The school is focused on growing learners who are connected to and participate in the local community as mana whenua. A new senior leadership team has been established in 2024.
There are three parts to this report.
Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.
Part B: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.
Part C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.
Significant areas for improvement were identified in the October 2023 ERO report. A Limited Statutory Manager was appointed by the Ministry of Education in October 2023 to support the board in relation to employment and curriculum management, including teaching and assessment.
The school expected to see improvements in:
What was found:
The board have worked constructively with the Limited Statutory Manager to improve their governance practices. This included appointing a new school leadership team in 2024. School leaders have identified key areas for improvement including increasing learning opportunities and student outcomes.
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
| Improving the reliability of assessment data is required as a basis of lifting schoolwide progress and achievement. |
| Leaders are taking steps to foster a positive and safe school environment. |
| Teachers are beginning to develop programmes that cater to student needs; improving the quality of teaching and learning is an ongoing priority. |
| The school board and leaders continue to put key conditions in place to promote student wellbeing and learner outcomes. |
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within three months:
Within six months:
Every six months:
Annually:
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education convene a case meeting with the board and LSM. This will enable key stakeholders to discuss the best way forward to bring about the following school improvements in:
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Report and is due within three years.
Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children
Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)
27 May 2025
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
As of November 2024, the Opononi Area School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
Yes
Yes
Yes
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For further information please contact Opononi Area School Board.
The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.
Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.
Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)
27 May 2025
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
This review is designed to support schools that were experiencing difficulties at the time of the last review. ERO provides ongoing evaluation over the course of one-to-two years as the school works to improve its overall performance and build its self-review capability.
This report answers key questions about the school’s background and the context for the review. The report also provides an evaluation of how effectively the school is addressing areas identified for review and development and the quality of its practices and systems for sustaining performance and ongoing improvement.
Opononi Area School, caters for 138 learners in Years 1 to 13, is in the Hokianga region of Northland. The majority of learners are Māori with local Ngāpuhi iwi affiliations.
The February 2020 ERO report identified ongoing concerns relating to attendance, effective teaching and assessment practices, curriculum, and the use of data to inform leadership actions. In addition, ERO noted the need to improve professional leadership, including promoting a positive working environment and increasing the effectiveness of governance.
Since 2020, the school has experienced significant changes in the composition of the school leadership team and staffing. A first-time acting principal was appointed for Terms 1 to 3 in 2023 while the principal is on a sabbatical. An acting part-time deputy principal is in place during this time.
In September 2022, a new school board was formed that included new parent members and staff representative. Two recent changes in the presiding member have occurred with a small core group of experienced members supporting continuity.
In October 2022, ERO identified and reported significant concerns around the school’s performance in a key area that impacted on learner outcomes. In response, the Ministry of Education provided the school with intensive support, including regular Te Mahau staff visits to support the enactment of a comprehensive school improvement plan. This plan continues to be the key schoolwide focus for 2023.
The school is at the initial stages of addressing its areas for review and development identified by ERO in October 2022. The school continues to require ongoing support from the Ministry of Education to improve school conditions for positive learner outcomes.
In addition to the improvement areas noted in the 2020 ERO report, four additional evaluation priorities have been identified. These are:
positive school culture and student wellbeing
learner outcomes - attendance, learning opportunities, progress, and achievement
teaching effectiveness and responsive curriculum
professional leadership and stewardship.
ERO observations of classrooms confirmed a positive, settled school environment. Learners are on task and completing their work. Interactions between staff and students are respectful. Students report a sense of belonging and value their friendships with each other.
Te Mahau is supporting teachers to re-start the Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L) programme schoolwide. This is at initial stages of implementation for Years 1 to 13, with more visibility in the primary area of the school.
Reducing the increased number of students stood down or suspended in 2022 remains a key focus. Early progress is evident with reduced numbers early in 2023.
More learners access support for their wellbeing including guidance counsellor services from additional Ministry of Education resources. The acting deputy principal has initiated useful processes for supporting learners. This includes assistance for successfully transitioning new students into the school.
A critical priority is to continue to embed practices that support a positive and safe school climate. The recently conducted student wellbeing survey should provide the board with useful information to the board to track progress in this area.
Attendance levels are beginning to recover from low levels during COVID-19 and interruptions from local weather events. Very few learners attend school more than 90 percent of the time and high numbers attend less than 70 percent. Targeted strategies to improve attendance remains a key strategic focus for the board, school leaders and staff.
Senior learners’ access to a wider range of senior courses has improved with the reinstatement of Gateway programmes and online learning options. Broadening the range of vocational pathways is an ongoing priority.
Improving learners' progress and achievement outcomes remains a key focus for 2023. Substantial numbers of Years 1 to 10 learners require targeted teaching to accelerate their rates of progress and achievement in literacy and mathematics.
Years 11 to 13 student achievement in National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) requires urgent attention after a significant decline in 2022. While most learners met the Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirement, few students achieved a NCEA Level 1 qualification. Overall, NCEA Level 1 to 3 results in 2022 were well below 2020 and 2021. Closer monitoring and tracking of senior students’ progress is being supported by a Te Mahau NCEA facilitator.
The school improvement plan provides a clear focus on teaching and redeveloping the curriculum. Much more progress is required to improve learner outcomes.
Schoolwide assessment practices continue to require further strengthening. Ensuring that Years 1 to 10 data is dependable and used to target teaching strategies and programmes, is a key next step. Teachers have begun to use of the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) in reading, writing and mathematics. Improving the consistency and dependability of data is ongoing.
Te Mahau Student Achievement Function (SAF) practitioner has begun to support a schoolwide literacy plan with leaders, to support more consistent schoolwide assessment and teaching practices. The SAF continues to provide support to teachers, particularly with assessment.
New teachers and acting leaders model responsive and data informed teaching strategies. ERO observations of teaching reconfirmed the ongoing need to improve teaching strategies. This includes better targeting and providing learners with choices based on their interests and next learning steps. Learners should also be empowered to better understand and lead more of their learning.
Relationships First, teacher professional learning and development, is at the initial stages of implementation. New approaches to support teachers to critically reflect on their practices should assist with changing practices and contribute to the school’s professional growth cycle for teachers.
Students should have access to The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Mātaiaho, the refreshed New Zealand curriculum. Recent staffing changes result in the loss of specialist teaching in te reo Māori and technology. The school has yet to implement the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum in 2023.
Significant ongoing improvements in NCEA teaching programmes is required in 2023. Multi-level NCEA courses with team teaching pairs requires ongoing monitoring for success, to ensure that this works well for learners and staff.
Professional leadership and stewardship
The effectiveness of school leadership and stewardship continues to require significant improvement.
Acting school leaders and the board are working positively with the Ministry of Education and New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) support to begin to improve educational provisions for learners. The magnitude of the improvement work is understood, including building consultation processes with parents, whānau and the school community.
The board understand the importance of developing strategies to promote a safe emotional and physical school environment. Board members led a comprehensive review of existing policies and procedures. Ensuring that suitable school policies and procedures are in place, well understood and implemented by staff is an ongoing board focus.
The acting principal has strengthened relationships with the local community. School premises are becoming a hub for activities and events. Improved internal and external communication approaches have also been noted by staff and the board.
Schoolwide leadership roles and responsibilities require clarification as a basis for school improvement. This includes clarity around job descriptions and accountabilities for teachers, leaders and unit holders. This is particularly important for Years 9 to 10 and NCEA areas of the school. School organisational structures, including the timetable and class sizes from Years 9 onwards, require close monitoring to ensure that they are working well both for learners and staff.
The school is at the initial stages of beginning to improve its performance. Intensive Te Mahau support and presence provides a stable platform for implementing the school improvement plan.
Continuing to improve the capacity of school leaders and teachers is critical for increasing learning opportunities and outcomes. Forming a stable and effective school leadership team remains a key priority, with a full-time deputy principal appointment pending with the return of the principal in Term 4, 2023.
The school board continues to work constructively with the Ministry of Education and NZSTA. Board members are becoming better placed to undertake their roles and responsibilities. They are beginning to scrutinise data and challenge the sufficiency of the information as they monitor the impact of the school improvement plan.
ERO recommends that the board, school leaders and teachers continue to:
implement and monitor the Ministry of Education school improvement plan for 2023, with a clear focus on improving learner outcomes through improved teaching and learning conditions
participate in professional learning and development to improve the effectiveness of the board, leadership, teaching
to urgently develop the school’s curriculum that includes expectations for effective teaching, planning and assessment
urgently develop clarity in school leadership and accountabilities for teachers, leaders and unit holders, with an initial focus on Years 9 to 13
develop and embed positive behaviours for learning schoolwide, including supports for learner wellbeing and learner agency to lead more of their learning.
Before the review, the board of trustees and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to:
board administration
curriculum
management of health, safety and welfare
personnel management
financial management
asset management.
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
physical safety of students
teacher registration
processes for appointing staff
stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
attendance
school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance; most were identified by the board:
the provision and maintenance of a work environment that is without risks health and safety
[Health and Safety at Work Act 2015(HSWA)]
comply with the conditions stated under which students participate in work experience
[Health and Safety at Work Act 2015(HSWA)]
ensure that teachers and authorised staff participate in restraint training to meet 2023 guidelines, including strategies for de-escalation
[Education & Training Act 2020, rule 12]
consultation with the school’s Māori community to make known to the community, the school’s policies, plans and targets for improving the progress of Māori students
[Education & Training Act 2020]
ensure that all students from Years 7 and above, participate in careers guidance and education programmes [Education & Training Act 2020]
work towards providing second language or subsequent language learning in Years 7 to 10
[Education & Training Act 2020]
ensure that teaching and learning programmes include te reo Māori, technology and Aotearoa New Zealand histories [Education & Training Act 2020]
consulted with the school community at least once every two years to adopt a statement for the delivery of the health curriculum [Education & Training Act 2020, section 9]
ensure that the school has suitable systems to establish that it has been open for the required number of days [Education & Training Act 2020].
To improve current practices, the board and school leaders should:
develop targeted strategies to support learners to maximise school attendance
continue to strengthen education outside the classroom practices to ensure that they are robust and include comprehensive risk assessments for all activities that learners participate in
ensure that a risk assessment is recorded for all new appointments and is periodically conducted for existing staff
ensure that teachers hold a current practising certificate at all times
ensure that non-teaching staff hold a current police vet at all times
ensure that the health and safety committee links to the board’s responsibilities for managing health and safety
ensure that school processes for managing cyber safety are strengthened for staff and learners.
ERO acknowledges that the Ministry of Education expertise and resourcing is stabilising school operations. This has supported the acting principal and acting deputy principal and board to undertake their respective roles and responsibilities.
ERO recommends that the Secretary for Education appoints a Limited Statutory Manager (LSM) under section 180 of the Education and Training Act 2020 to the board with responsibilities for improving learner outcomes, attendance, progress and achievement, policy review, curriculum and employment.
Opononi Area School has made initial progress in the first half of 2023 as a result of the intensive support from Te Mahau advisors and expertise to implement the school improvement plan. Building the school’s internal capacity to lead its own school improvement remains a key priority.
Further strengthening is required in professional leadership, curriculum development, teaching and governance to improve school conditions and learner outcomes.
ERO will continue to work closely with the school and Te Mahau to monitor the school’s progress against key areas. The values and principles of Te Ara Huarau, ERO’s approach for school evaluation for improvement will underpin this work.
Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
17 October 2023