25 Manson Street , Taumarunui
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.
Tarrangower School provides education for students in Years 1 – 8. The current school roll is 50 learners, 85% are Māori with smaller numbers of New Zealand European or Pacific heritage. The school’s mission ‘Whāia te Iti Kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei - Pursue Excellence and if one should bow one's head then let it be only to a lofty mountain’. It is underpinned by the core values of Respect, Akoranga, Whanaungatanga and Excellence. The Ministry of Education is providing support within the school through the appointment of a Limited Statutory Manager in November 2024.
| How well are learners succeeding? | Improvements are required to ensure all learners are engaged, making sufficient progress and achieving well. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | The school is improving teaching and learning. |
| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have some opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals. |
| How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? | The school is establishing planning and conditions that support improvements in the quality of education for learners. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school reasonably promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion. |
| How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? | The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions. |
| Student Health and Safety | The school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety. |
This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.
Foundation Skills | |
| Reading | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Less than a third of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is significantly behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school is developing a suitable plan to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is not yet improving towards or beyond the target.
Chronic absence is reducing over time.
The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.
Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.
The school does not have good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.
The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is not making progress towards meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.
During the course of this review ERO had concerns about the quality of education being provided and made recommendations for support to the Ministry of Education.
This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.
The school curriculum is designed to ensure that learners have access to at least one hour per day in reading, writing and mathematics.
Professional learning and development in structured literacy continues to build teacher capability to support the improvement of achievement outcomes for students
Teachers work collaboratively to develop and implement teaching and learning opportunities that are increasingly inclusive of learners’ language, culture and identity
The board, leaders and staff continue to implement initiatives that strengthen school and community partnerships.
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:
Every six months:
Annually:
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During this review the Board has attested to some regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education provide tailored support to the school, in addition to recent appointment of a limited statutory manager to the board, for:
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)
11 April 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Overall the school has made good progress in addressing the areas for review and development identified in the 2019 ERO report. Tarrangower School will transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement process.
Tarrangower School is situated in the township of Taumarunui. It caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The current roll of 48 includes 33 who identify as Māori. Leaders and teachers have remained in their roles since the 2019 ERO report. The school has received ongoing support from Ministry of Education student achievement facilitators.
The areas for review and development identified in the 2019 ERO report focused on:
Effective systems and processes are now in place that allow teachers and leaders to identify those who are at risk of not achieving, identify their needs and monitor their progress.
These systems and processes are underpinned by a well-developed curriculum achievement plan. This plan explains school-wide benchmark expectations in mathematics and literacy and how progress towards these is measured and achieved. The learning progressions frameworks of The New Zealand Curriculum are used as building blocks for this plan. These are clearly visible in teacher planning in ways that show students’ next steps in learning are responded to. More recently teachers have been using assessment data to identify school-wide trends and patterns and responding to these.
An important next step for teachers is to strengthen the systems in place to empower students to take more responsibility for their own learning.
Students participate and learn in a nurturing and inclusive community characterised by settled classrooms and high levels of engagement. Student’s social and pastoral needs are well known to teachers. They have developed a level of trust to be able to quickly respond when students require extra support. The school-wide behaviour management system encourages a positive approach to behaviour. School values are well promoted. The large number of students with very high needs are well supported by a team of teacher aides guided by external experts.
The school has made good progress in developing a local curriculum. Leaders and teachers have worked with professional development providers to write a learner profile that aligns to the school values and is informed by parent and whānau aspirations. The school has engaged with local iwi to develop a school pepeha and to collect local histories and stories. Tikanga Māori such as karakia, waiata and pepeha are used daily during “paepae” time. Māori contexts for learning are evident in each classroom.
It is now timely to strengthen the teaching and assessment of te reo Māori across the school.
Teachers are developing useful documents outlining expected best practice in reading, writing and mathematics. These documents are informed by current research and cover planning, teaching approaches, programming and assessment. The development and review of these documents is embedded in strategic and annual planning to ensure coherency and sustainability of change.
An important next step is to develop a set of overarching statements about a preferred pedagogy. This will ensure coherency between current practice and any proposed future interventions and innovations.
Engagement with parents, whānau and the wider community to enhance learning for students has been strengthened. Parents and whānau are now regularly surveyed to ensure their input informs decision making in a range of different contexts. Parents and whānau are now more regularly involved in pastoral matters.
Ongoing reflection for improvement is now an embedded part of teacher practice. A spirit of innovation is evident in classroom programming. An important next step for the school is to use a formal internal evaluation process to guide their work. This will ensure that vital elements of effective evaluation, such as involving multiple stakeholders and monitoring impacts and outcomes for learners, are included.
The board has strengthened its ability to meet statutory responsibilities. Strategic planning has been reviewed, strategic goals are now clear and measurable. Student progress and achievement targets focus on accelerating the progress of all students who are at risk of underachieving. A robust policy framework guides school operation. The board should now strengthen the ways it evaluates the impact and effectiveness of its resourcing decisions.
Leaders and teachers have established a foundation of values, leadership, tone, climate and relationships likely to sustain and improve student learning - engagement, progress and achievement. They have developed their capacity to reflect, plan, act and report to their community using evidence that includes student achievement information. They have made good progress in building the capability to sustain and continue to improve student achievement.
The ongoing improvement in the quality of classroom programmes has been founded on robust systems and processes for collating and using student achievement information. Combining the already highly visible spirit of reflection and innovation with a sound process for internal evaluation should lead to further, evidence-based improvement.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
In order to meet current requirements, the board of trustees must ensure:
[Children’s Act 2014, and Regulations 5 – 8, 2015, (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers)]
Overall the school has made good progress in addressing the areas for review and development identified in the 2019 ERO report. Tarrangower School will transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement process.
Shelley Booysen
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region - Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
17 December 2021