473 Early's Road , Cust
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.
Cust School is located in North Canterbury and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. New Zealand European/Pākehā make up the largest proportion (96%) of the schools approximately 140 learners. 11% of students identify as Māori. The school’s school vision is Be Your Best with the school values referred to as Piko’s TIPS (Think, Independent, Participate and Solve problems) sitting alongside. A new principal has recently been appointed.
| How well are learners succeeding? | The school is working towards high levels of success and progress for all learners. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | Learners benefit from high 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 sufficient 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? | School planning and conditions to support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners are well established. |
| 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 | Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Almost all learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet 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 behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school is yet to have a suitable plan to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.
Chronic absence is not yet 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 is developing 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 not 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 and/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau 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.
School leadership has established effective systems and is strengthening relational trust and effective collaboration to support the school’s strategic goals, with high expectations for learning and behaviour.
Structured literacy and mathematics practices across the school are supported by a clear focus on high impact teaching strategies.
Schoolwide learning themes, informed by teacher and learner feedback, provide meaningful learning opportunities for curriculum integration.
Appropriate professional learning opportunities, teacher collaboration and feedback from observations build effective teaching practice.
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within six 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 and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:
Evidence of identity and checking and sighting original qualifications as part of workforce safety checking
[Sections 25, 26 and 27 of the Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers, Regulations 5 – 8 of the Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015]
The board has since addressed the areas of non-compliance identified.
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 Evaluation 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)
7 May 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Cust School is a full primary (Years 1 to 8) state school. It is located in the Waimakariri District of North Canterbury. It has a stable roll, currently comprising 160 students.
The school’s overarching vision is ‘Be Your Best’. The vision promotes equity of opportunity and achievement excellence.
The school’s learning goals’ expectations are to provide the best quality education, a culture of collaborative relationships, and opportunities for children to be self-motivated, positive and responsive citizens. Valued outcomes, expressed through the school’s mascot, are for children to be thinking, independent, participating problem solvers.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
The school is a member of the Puketeraki Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako. School leaders are actively engaged with partner schools. The Kāhui Ako vision statement and achievement challenges have been incorporated into the school’s strategic plan.
Since the 2013 ERO review, the school has participated in Ministry of Education professional learning to strengthen teaching and learning in mathematics and literacy.
The school has successfully addressed the recommendations in the previous Education Review report in 2013.
The school is effective in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for almost all children.
Positive outcomes in literacy and numeracy have been consistent over time. High levels of whole school achievement, at or above expected levels, have been sustained across the core curriculum since 2014.
Although boys’ achievement in writing in 2016 was at expected levels, this was significantly lower than for girls. The school has identified this as a concern and set a target to increase the number of boys at or above expected writing levels.
A wide range of learner achievements is consistently acknowledged by the school. These are celebrated by classroom, whole school and with the local community.
Although Māori children are a statistically small cohort, a range of specific strategies is being developed to affirm and strengthen their sense of identity. These target Māori learner needs and support existing strategies to improve their achievement outcomes. Māori learner achievements are consistent with those for the whole school. Strategies to support Māori children are part of a wider school biculturalism focus.
Some targeted learners have progressed from below expected to expected levels of achievement in writing in 2017. There have been positive achievement shifts for numbers of targeted students in mathematics and reading since 2016.
Children whose learning needs acceleration benefit from strong learning support programmes which are responsive to their needs. The majority of learners have made sufficient progress over the past two years. A collective school responsibility for learning support programmes is overseen by a lead group of teachers. Students with additional needs are closely supported to achieve success.
Effective leadership by the board of trustees and the principal has established a clear, student- centred strategic vision that is embedded in all aspects of the school’s operations. Thorough and detailed planning and communication ensure that the positive school culture, programmes and practice, strongly reflect the school’s vision and values. These are understood and shared by children, staff and families. Community voice about the vision and valued outcomes is sought and highly valued.
Explicit improvement-focused expectations for teaching and learning, aligned with the vision and values, provide a cohesive framework for learning. Children have a range of opportunities in which to achieve through the broad, responsive curriculum which draws successfully on local contexts to enhance learning. Programmes and planning reflect the interests, needs and abilities of individual students, including those with additional needs. Children are well supported to set and monitor learning goals and to understand and manage their own learning. Teachers effectively reflect on their practice and engage in collective targeted professional learning to improve outcomes for learners.
Consistent, sustainable school-wide systems, planning and documentation ensure staff and leaders gather and respond to meaningful information. Regular reporting provides well understood lines of accountability. The board seeks and receives relevant information on which to base its decisions. Children’s progress, learning and wellbeing are closely tracked and monitored.
School leaders and teachers need to build on existing practices and understandings to develop deeper shared understanding of tikanga Māori and te ao Māori to fully embed bicultural perspectives and practices across all school operations.
To fully understand the impact of practices, programmes and initiatives on outcomes for learners, school leaders need to ensure there is a consistent approach to internal evaluation.
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:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, development priorities are in:
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.
Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
5 February 2018
| Location | Cust |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 3325 |
| School type | Full State Primary Years 1-8 |
| School roll | 160 |
| Gender composition | Female 51% Male 49% |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 4% Pākehā 96% |
| Provision of Māori medium education | No |
| Review team on site | November 2017 |
| Date of this report | 5 February 2018 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review September 2013 Education Review May 2010 Education Review May 2007 Education Review March 2004 |