518 Pohangina Valley East Rd , Ashhurst
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.
Awahou School provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school aims for learners to lead their learning exemplifying the values of Kaitiakitanga (Guardianship) and Manaakitanga (Kindness). The school roll is currently 39. Māori learners make up approximately 10% of the school roll.
| How well are learners succeeding? | Learners experience high levels of success and make excellent progress; outcomes are similarly high for all groups. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | Learners benefit from excellent quality teaching practice that improves progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.
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| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is a 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? | School planning and conditions to support high quality education for learners are driving excellent school performance. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school successfully 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 reports usefully and accurately to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school responds well to a wide range 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 | Almost all learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Almost all learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is exceeding the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school is developing a suitable plan to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.
The school uses an appropriate approach and reliable practices to find out about achievement against the curriculum.
Assessment information is used well to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.
The school has good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
The school has significantly 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 meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets set for 2030.
This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.
Learners benefit from a coherent curriculum that is consistently delivered by experienced and knowledgeable teachers who work together to maintain high expectations for success.
A community wide vision of success secures positive conditions for learning; learners are well supported to lead their own learning.
Experienced leadership is sustaining well embedded systems and processes across the school and community, securing effective conditions for learning.
Structured literacy and mathematics programmes are being taught well and are supplemented by a range of other useful resources.
Learners experience the depth and breadth of the New Zealand curriculum with priority given to literacy and mathematics.
Continual teacher inquiry helps teachers to respond in timely ways to the needs of their learners.
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
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’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)
15 May 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Awahou School is a small rural school that has students in Years 1 to 8, located in the Pohangina Valley north of Ashhurst. At the time of this visit 27 children were enrolled, and five identify as Māori. Since the June 2016 ERO report, the school has undergone staffing changes, including a new principal who took up the role in Term 1, 2019.
The school states its key aims for 2019 as:
Annual goals for 2019 include, accelerating the progress of students performing below expectations in reading, writing and mathematics using evidence-based best practice.
The school’s overarching vision is ‘Excellent learning for a global future’. The espoused values desired for students are ‘respect whakaute, honesty matatika and effort ngaki’. ‘Being respectful, responsible, caring, honest, creative, successful and to persevere’, underpin teaching and school life.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in relation to their progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.
The school has a memorandum of understanding with Tanenuiarangi Manawatū Incorporated on behalf of Rangitane O Manawatu Iwi. The school collaborates with this group and other schools in the Rangitane rohe to provide learners with knowledge and experiences pertinent to the area.
Reported achievement data over time shows the school has generally maintained a high level of achievement with some gender disparity evident. In mathematics, more boys achieve above expectation than girls. In writing, girls are achieving consistently better over time than boys. Data comparison for 2017 and 2018 indicates achievement is static with little change in writing and mathematics. Reading achievement improved for all groups, including Māori.
At the beginning of 2019, the incoming principal collated and analysed the achievement information available in late 2018. The data may not have been dependable.
Children requiring additional assistance to enjoy educational success are catered for through a range of well-considered programmes and adaptive classroom practice. When appropriate, the school accesses external agency support.
The school was not effective during 2018 in accelerating the progress and achievement of the small number of students requiring more support to achieve success. These learners continue to be identified in annual targets for 2019.
Systems and practises to enhance teaching and learning for children who need their progress and achievement accelerated have been improved by the new teaching team.
Trustees and school leaders work cooperatively to achieve the school’s vision, goals and targets to achieve equity for all learners.
The development of an organisational culture underpinned by relational trust and collaboration is evident. Improved annual targets in 2019 focus more specifically on those learners requiring accelerated progress.
Family, whānau and community collaborations enrich learning opportunities for students. Children learn in an orderly and supportive environment where their holistic development is nurtured.
Ongoing curriculum development, innovations and professional learning and development align well to the school’s strategic aims and vision and promote students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Students have ample opportunities to experience the breath of the curriculum and actively engage in meaningful contexts of interest to them. Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori and learning about Rangitanetanga are an integral and meaningful part of Māori, and all, students schooling experience.
The new principal and team are improving systems and practices to achieve equitable achievement outcomes for all students. Teachers have identified the need to improve assessment and moderation practices and these developments are in the early stages. Staff have also introduced, in 2019, individualised plans for accelerating the progress and achievement of target students and they are in the early stages of implementing these.
The staff continue to build their individual and collective capability to lead effective internal evaluation practices. This should assist them to know what is working well in the school’s curriculum, define limitations and identify where further developments are necessary to improve outcomes.
Before the review, the board 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 the following:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Awahou School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
Phillip Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region
26 April 2019
| Location | Ashhurst |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 2338 |
| School type | Full Primary (Years 1 to 8) |
| School roll | 27 |
| Gender composition | Girls 16, Boys 11 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 5 Pākehā 22 |
| Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) | No |
| Provision of Māori medium education | No |
| Review team on site | February 2019 |
| Date of this report | 26 April 2019 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review June 2016 Education Review May 2013 Education Review January 2010 |