18 Sunderland Street , Waitahuna
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.
Waitahuna is a small rural contributing school that provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision is for students to be successful, and confident life-long learners. This is underpinned by the philosophy ‘e tu kahikatea‘, which the school defines as ‘standing together and supporting each other’. The school roll is currently 4 students.
| How well are learners succeeding? | Success and progress for all learners is increasing. |
| 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 |
| 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 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 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 large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are 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 at the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school has a suitable plan in place 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 is developing 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 significantly extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is 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 school has maintained consistent levels of achievement over time. Teachers know their learners’ well and intentionally plan teaching and learning that responds to learners’ strengths and needs.
The school is using a structured approach to literacy to support learner progress and achievement, and the school is well placed to implement structured mathematics practices.
Leadership is continually reviewing and improving processes to strengthen teaching practices and delivery of the school's curriculum.
An environmentally based curriculum increasingly reflects local contexts and provides a wide range of activities within the school environment, so learners see themselves in their learning.
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
Acting Director of Schools
13 May 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Waitahuna School is a rural school which provides education for children from Years 1 to 6. There are currently 25 students on the roll. Students are grouped into two rooms according to year levels. The majority of students travel by bus from surrounding areas. The school has had stable staffing for a number of years.
The school’s vision is for students to be successful, and confident life-long learners. This is underpinned by the philosophy ‘e tu kahikatea‘, which the school defines as ‘standing together and supporting each other ’. The strategic goals extend the vision by including the need to build student resiliency, and equipping students with skills to ‘value themselves and each other’ and ‘solve challenges’. The school values are respect and responsibility.
To know about the school’s performance against these goals and the school vision, the principal regularly reports to the board school-wide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
Waitahuna School is an active member of the Tokomairiro Kāhui AkolCommunity of Learning (CoL).
Waitahuna School is effective in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most students. Over the last three years most students have achieved at or above expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics. School information for the end of 2017 shows that, while still achieving well, there is some disparity for boys in all three areas.
Waitahuna School is effective in accelerating learning for those students who need extra support to succeed in their learning. All students who needed support to achieve, are tracked and monitored in terms of their achievement and progress at a school-wide level.
All students receiving support accelerated their learning appropriately.
Students participate and learn in a caring, collaborative, and inclusive learning environment. This has been developed and managed by the principal and teacher in ways that encourage and support student engagement and agency in their learning. The students benefit from supportive relationships which are strongly based on:
Students are well supported in their learning. They work collaboratively with their teacher and set personal goals that are realistic and challenging. Teachers track and monitor all students’ achievement and progress and students know how well they are progressing against their goals. Teachers use a variety of teaching strategies to keep students engaged in their learning. Parents, whānau and the community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued partners in children’s learning.
Students learn through a broad curriculum which is responsive to their aspirations and those of their parents and whānau, and inclusive of New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. Leaders and teachers work together to plan curriculum design tasks and activities. They ensure children’s learning is enhanced by the integration of community and cultural resources into relevant aspects of the curriculum. The board is proactive in establishing networks that extend and enrich learning opportunities for students.
Waitahuna School leadership has built relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community. Teachers use a range of ways to engage with parents, whānau and community. They provide many opportunities and ideas that enable parents to constructively support their children’s learning.
Effective communication between the principal and board enables strategic resourcing decisions, aimed at improving student outcomes.
Trustees, leaders and teachers need to more formally evaluate the effectiveness of school programmes and practices to:
The school currently has effective systems, processes and practices for achieving equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning. Leaders and teachers now need to extend current assessment practices to include all curriculum learning areas.
The board needs to continue to develop, refine and review its policies and procedures.
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, priorities for further development are in:
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern
16 November 2018
| Location | Waitahuna |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 3855 |
| School type | Contributing (Years 1 to 6) |
| School roll | 25 |
| Gender composition | Boys: 16 Girls: 9 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori: 6 Pākehā: 18 Pacific: 1 |
| Review team on site | September 2018 |
| Date of this report | 16 November 2018 |
| Most recent ERO reports | Education Review: August 2015 Education Review: April 2012 Education Review: October 2008 |