Jacksons Bay Road , Hannah's Clearing, Haast
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.
Haast School is a Years 1 to 8 school situated on the edge of a world heritage site. The school’s current roll is 9, with 45% Māori and 55% European | Pākehā learners. The school draws its learners from Haast township and the surrounding district. It has a strong community focus and uses its unique natural environment to enhance learning.
ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the impact of developing the school as a community of learners in order to enhance each child’s progress and achievement.
The school expected to see:
During the course of the evaluation, students benefitted from developing self-management and independence, as well as collaborating effectively with others in learning tasks. Students were more able to articulate what the school’s values of curiosity, determination, respect and integrity looked like when exemplified by them both in the classroom and in school events.
Teachers have been more explicit about learning intentions, ensuring that all students understand what progress and success looks like for them as individual learners. Students’ learning successes and their reflections on their learning have been increasingly highlighted and shared with whānau, resulting in a growth in learners’ confidence.
| 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 rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain foundational 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 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 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 | A small majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school has a suitable plan in place 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 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 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 and/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.
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 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’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
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Haast School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz
Haast School is a small Years 1 to 8 school situated on the edge of a world heritage site at Hannah’s Clearing in South Westland. The school draws its learners from Haast township and the surrounding district. The school has a strong community focus and uses its unique natural environment to enhance learning.
Haast School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:
nurture, engage and empower confidence in our tamariki
maximise the uniqueness of our environment
foster connections with families, community and the wider world.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Haast School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of developing the school as a community of learners in order to enhance each child’s progress and achievement.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:
the school has noticed children can lack confidence taking ownership of their learning, due to the school’s remoteness and isolation
the school’s commitment to developing peer to peer interaction within and beyond the school community in order to foster collaboration, self regulation and resilience
the increasing importance of individual learning plans differentiated to the needs of each child.
The school expects to see:
a strengthening of the school’s capacity to support student wellbeing and learning
gains in children’s personal growth to build confidence and make progress in their learning
an increase in the role of student voice in learning.
The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of developing the school as a community of learners in order to enhance each child’s progress and achievement:
cohesive links between the school and the community
a rich local curriculum with an emphasis on the region’s environment and its connection to the wider world.
Moving forward, the school will prioritise:
improvements in assessment and reporting, in particular the role of e-portfolios, in order for children to take increased ownership of their learning
developing success indicators that show growth and progression in learning through working as a community of learners.
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.
Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
13 November 2023
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 2023, the Haast School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
For further information please contact Haast 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.
Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
13 November 2023
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Haast School is a very small, rural primary school in an isolated area of South Westland. It caters for students in Years 1 to 8 and has a current roll of 10. Most students live in the township of Haast and travel to school by bus.
The school’s vision is to grow individuals for the future. The valued outcomes are described through the Haast Hand, and include fun, respect, aroha, determination and curiosity. These values are integrated throughout the school’s curriculum.
The board’s current strategic goals are to: meet individual learning needs; maximise the use of the unique environment; and, foster connections with families and the community.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
Since the 2015 ERO review, there have been significant changes of staff, including the teaching principal and part-time teacher, as well as a new board.
A local playgroup meets regularly on the school’s site. This supports children’s transition to school.
The school is effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students.
Student achievement information from 2016, 2017 and 2018 shows that most students are achieving at or above expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
All students are well supported and benefit from integrated programmes of learning that develop their understanding of the school’s values and the key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum.
The school is effectively accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this.
School information for 2018 showed examples of accelerated progress for those students who needed it in reading and writing. A targeted intervention in mathematics in 2018 showed that about half of the students made accelerated progress.
Students benefit from the rich, meaningful learning programmes that support their engagement, social development and sense of belonging. There are many varied and interesting opportunities for them to build on their interests and prior knowledge. These promote greater ownership of learning.
Teachers know students and their families well. They promote a positive and supportive culture that is welcoming and inclusive. Teachers are highly responsive to individual needs, strengths and interests. Students readily receive personalised help with their learning.
Reciprocal collaborations with the community enrich opportunities for students and their learning. Very good use is made of the local environment, including resources and expertise to extend students’ understanding of the unique context they live in. Teachers promote possibilities for student involvement beyond the local environment. Regular contact with schools in the surrounding areas and the wider community, supports their sense of belonging and understanding of their place in the wider world.
School leadership proactively seeks, and effectively makes use of, external expertise and support networks to meet the individual needs of students. There is very good provision of targeted professional learning to continue to build teachers’ capabilities.
The board has worked closely with students, staff and the community to develop the school’s vision and values. The well-considered strategic plan and provision of appropriate resourcing is focused on meeting the identified valued outcomes for students to be successful learners.
The principal and teacher should refine the ways they analyse and use data to:
better understand the achievement and progress of individuals and groups of students over time
determine the impact of specific interventions over time
inform more detailed reporting to the board and community.
The principal and teacher have identified, and ERO agrees, that they need to continue to extend the ways they reflect and articulate te ao Māori within key school practices and documentation.
Systems that support school operation when managing change need further development. These include:
board succession planning
recognising the impact on staff workload
the development and review of policies and procedures
using evaluation to build collective capacity for ongoing improvement.
ERO suggests that the board considers seeking external support to assist it in further developing its governance practice.
Aspects of appraisal need to be strengthened to meet the requirements of the Teaching Council.
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 Haast School performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.
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:
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
4 June 2019
|
Location |
Haast |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
3363 |
|
School type |
Full Primary (Years 1 to 8) |
|
School roll |
10 |
|
Gender composition |
Girls 6, Boys 4 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 4 NZ European/Pākehā 5 Other ethnicities 1 |
|
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) |
No |
|
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
|
Review team on site |
March 2019 |
|
Date of this report |
4 June 2019 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review December 2015 Education Review August 2012 |