47 Orawia Road , Tuatapere
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.
Waiau Area School provides education for students from Years 1 to 13 and is located in the Western Southland town of Tuatapere. The school’s mission statement is Live to learn, learn to live. The three core values are: Respect Self, Respect Others and Respect the Environment.
There are two parts to this report.
Part A: 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 B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
| Learners are engaged, make progress and overall outcomes for learning are improving. |
| Well-considered leadership provides strong vision for school direction and ongoing schoolwide improvement. |
| Staff collaborate and use agreed teaching strategies well to respond to the needs of learners. |
| Well-aligned systems and effective conditions ensure ongoing school improvement. |
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:
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
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
As of March 2025, the Waiau Area School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ERO and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:
The board has since addressed the areas of non-compliance identified.
For further information please contact Waiau 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)
15 May 2025
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement is that the school has made very good progress in relation to the priorities identified in this report and will now transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement approach.
Waiau Area School is located in Tuatapere, Southland. The school caters for 134 students in Years 1 to 15, approximately 35 percent of whom identify as Māori.
The 2020 ERO report acknowledged the progress the school had made in addressing many areas identified in the 2016 ERO external evaluation. In 2016, the concerns were significant and related to assessment, curriculum design, teaching and learning, school governance and leadership. In addition, the school’s property and environment also required significant remediation.
Between 2016 and 2021, the roll has continued to steadily increase. Stronger links with the community are in place, and the board has several long-term, experienced trustees. The tumuaki, recruited using the Principal Recruitment Allowance (PRA), and a number of new and existing staff have continued to make key strategic improvements.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has provided ongoing support to the school including a regional School Improvement Team (SIT). The MoE has also provided targeted professional learning and development opportunities in mathematics, literacy and curriculum design. Key property improvements have been completed to enhance school learning facilities and environments.
Since 2017, ERO has worked closely with Waiau Area School, providing ongoing monitoring of school progress and evaluations for school improvement. Regular visits, classroom observations, and meetings with the board, leaders, teachers, students, parents and external support agencies have occurred as part of a working partnership between the school and agencies.
The school is effectively addressing its areas for review and development. ERO had identified ongoing long-term priorities for improving student outcomes including:
Attendance has improved over time. The school has improved its tracking and monitoring systems. Attendance data is analysed, and staff work positively with students and their whānau to facilitate more regular attendance and engagement.
Leaders and teachers have developed better systems and processes to assess, record, track and use student learning information across the school. There is a commitment to further strengthen the collective capacity of leaders and teachers to use in-depth analysis of outcomes information for programme planning.
In the senior school improved tracking, assessment practices and external moderation ensure students are monitored and supported. The school meets the requirements of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and has strengthened its processes.
Over time, student achievement has steadily improved in several areas. School information shows that Māori students, across all years, achieve at similar, or better levels than other students. This is a key area of school success.
An increasing number of senior students are achieving their literacy and numeracy requirements to attain National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1 and 2. More students are progressing to success in Level 3, and some students have achieved subject endorsements. This is an area for ongoing development to meet individual learning pathways.
The school has clearly identified those students whose learning requires extra support. School data shows that an increasing number of these students are accelerating their learning progress. Teachers use suitable assessment tools and are making better use of achievement information to inform planning that meets students’ individual learning requirements.
Students in Years 1 to 10 are achieving well in reading, with over 80 percent reading at or above their expected curriculum level. Specific mathematics intervention programmes have led to improved engagement and learning outcomes in mathematics. As a result, 73 percent of the students are working at or above their expected level in this subject. Writing is an area where fewer students are at the expected level, and the school has interventions in place to address this.
The school actively encourages and supports a wide range of valued student outcomes. Teachers work with students to develop meaningful and successful pathways towards industry and tertiary studies. Students increasingly display an understanding of their own learning, a sense of purpose and confidence to achieve goals. They are supported to pursue and succeed in their areas of interest.
Since 2016, leaders and teachers have worked systematically to provide opportunities for students to experience rich and more relevant learning contexts. These contexts reflect their individual needs, interests and reflect the local curriculum. The increased roll has enabled the school to provide more specialist teachers in the senior school.
Leaders and teachers work closely with students and their families to provide programmes that cater for students’ individual aspirations and pathways. Students are increasingly well supported to access a broad range of meaningful opportunities outside of the school, including tertiary courses, work experience and education outside the classroom.
The school has accessed useful targeted external expertise to support teachers. Combined with school-led strategies to grow teaching capability, this is resulting in:
Leaders, teachers, staff and trustees are strongly committed to the ongoing improvement to the conditions, environment and school capacity to improve student outcomes. Leaders have benefited from external support and continue to show a well-considered, student-centred approach to change for improvement. The growth of leadership capacity and capability is a key success in this school.
Leaders model inclusivity and respect. They intentionally build the capacity of teachers to meet the needs of students. A deliberate policy of distributed leadership has supported and encouraged teachers to engage in professional learning and to develop their own leadership skills. Leaders have shown strategic approaches, care and commitment to form stronger links with the community.
Students and their families are made to feel welcome and valued. Importance is given to students being known and understood by the staff. Student success is celebrated, and surveys show that they feel positive about their school and appreciate that they have a voice in decision making. Students benefit from the school’s supportive reciprocal relationships with the community.
Trustees scrutinise school data and work with the leaders to ensure ongoing improvement. The board receives detailed information and evidence about student progress, achievement and other outcomes, through mid and end-of-year reporting. This is now used purposefully to inform strategic decision-making for resourcing and targeted planning. With MoE support, the board and school leaders, have overseen substantial improvements to the school’s physical environment to support student learning and wellbeing.
Waiau Area School is well placed to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance. The school has made significant progress in improving the conditions for student learning and wellbeing. Through the 2020 and 2021 pandemic, the school demonstrated a strong response and commitment to meeting the needs of students and whānau and contributing to support the wider Tuatapere community.
By establishing an inclusive and welcoming environment, leaders and staff have considerably broadened and improved conditions for student success, learning and wellbeing. The school has a very settled learning climate. ‘The Waiau Way’ is a well understood set of expectations and values that underpin positive, respectful relationships across the school. The school strongly reflects and embodies its values of ‘Respect Ourselves, Respect Others and Respect the Environment’.
Committed leadership has ensured a consistent focus on effective teaching and learning for equity and excellence. There is a planned approach to building internal capacity and capability to ensure continuous improvement. The support provided by the MoE has enabled leaders to improve the school’s performance. School leaders worked collaboratively with ERO to build their evaluation capacity over time.
School leaders and trustees are developing a greater shared understanding of the importance of internal evaluation to inform decision making. Ongoing development of a range of tools to support the evaluation of programmes, initiatives and systems will enable leaders and teachers to understand better what is working and what is not, and why, and this will facilitate further improvement.
The key areas for ongoing improvement are to:
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:
Waiau Area School has made significant improvement in its overall performance.
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement is that the school has made very good progress in relation to the priorities identified in this report and will now transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement approach.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
9 December 2021