31 Hector Drive , Rototuna North, Hamilton
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.
Te Totara Primary School is located in Rototuna North, Hamilton and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s multi-cultural roll of 705 students includes 106 Māori students, 192 Indian students, 126 NZ Pākeha/European students and a large number of students from other diverse cultures.
The school’s vision of ‘growing and learning together’ supports students to be ‘Te Totara STARS’ and promotes learners to make smart decisions, try their best, always learn, be respectful and self-manage.
A satellite unit of Hamilton North School operates onsite and caters for students with additional needs. The school is an active member of Te Pae Here Kāhui Ako.
| 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 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 | Most 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 becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is approaching 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.
Chronic absence is not yet reducing over time.
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.
Students experience high levels of academic success and make excellent progress; outcomes are similarly high for most groups of learners. Most Māori learners are achieving at or above expected levels in reading writing and mathematics. Priority learners are clearly identified; targeted support and interventions are effectively implemented and enable the large majority of students to accelerate their learning.
Wellbeing data shows almost all students have a strong sense of belonging, experience positive and respectful relationships with others and report feeling safe at school.
Leadership fosters and sustains a culture committed to high quality teaching and equity and excellence in learner outcomes; high expectations and effective collaboration at all levels of the school community support the achievement of the strategic vision and improvement goals.
A consistent focus on supporting learners to gain strong foundation skills through the implementation of structured literacy and mathematics contributes to very high levels of overall achievement.
Learners have rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. Te reo, tikanga and mātauranga Māori are woven through aspects of the school’s curriculum; leaders and teachers value and increasingly cater for the diverse identities, languages and cultures of all learners and their families.
Professional learning opportunities are strategically aligned to the school’s improvement goals; comprehensive guidelines for planning, teaching and assessment strengthen teacher capability and consistency of high-quality practice across the school.
Leaders and teachers regularly monitor the progress and impact of actions to improve learner outcomes; the board makes well informed decisions to support equitable opportunities for students to learn and succeed.
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)
21 May 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Te Totara Primary School located in Rototuna North, near Hamilton city, provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school continues to experience rapid roll growth. Student numbers have grown by approximately three hundred since the last ERO review in 2013. The current roll of 812 includes 91 Māori students and a significant number of English language learners. The school has become increasingly diverse, with less than half of the school population identifying as New Zealand European/Pākehā. The school is a member of the Te Pae Here Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako.
The school’s fundamental belief is that the children are STARS, and this is captured in the school-wide vision of ‘Growing and Learning Together’. STARS stands for Smart decisions, Trying our best, Always learning, Respectful and Self-managing. These five key themes aim to guide learners to improve. The school’s charter articulates its commitment to growing achievement for learners, encouraging family and community involvement and growing infrastructure to support students, staff and the community.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, school-wide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
The school is achieving equity and excellence for almost all of its students. Their achievement data from 2014 to 2017 shows a consistent pattern with almost all students achieving at or above national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. This data indicates that girls and boys achieve at comparable levels. In 2017, almost all Māori students are achieving national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. This information shows that the proportion of Pacific students achieving at or above national expectations is slightly lower than other groups in the school. Data from 2015 to 2017 indicates almost all students, including Māori and Pacific, are achieving at or above the national expectations in social sciences, technology, science and the arts.
The school is highly responsive to Māori and other students whose learning needs acceleration. The school’s 2017 data shows that most Māori students made accelerated progress in mathematics and reading, with a small majority making gains in writing. This information shows that most other at-risk students made accelerated progress in reading. In writing and mathematics approximately half of these at-risk students made accelerated progress.
The board of trustees provides high-quality stewardship for the school. Trustees set clear expectations through their strategic approach to school development. The board receives extensive data from school leaders which they closely scrutinise to determine the effectiveness of programmes and to set ongoing school priorities. There is a commitment to generous financial provision for additional staffing, resources and initiatives that specifically focus on improving student outcomes.
Senior leaders provide effective leadership for learning. They have consistently high expectations for teacher performance and a planned approach to providing appropriate professional learning and development. There is a strategic focus on building leadership capability across the school. This approach maximises the use of teacher expertise and contributes to ongoing sustainability of programmes, and initiatives. The leadership team has worked responsively to strategically manage rapid school growth and cultural diversity to maintain high levels of student participation and achievement.
School-wide systems and processes are used effectively to track and monitor student achievement. Information is gathered and reported across a wide range of curriculum areas. The introduction of a shared teaching and learning document to closely monitor progress of all priority learners is ensuring a relentless focus on accelerating achievement. There are appropriate and comprehensive systems to respond to children with additional learning needs. These practices contribute to a coordinated approach to improving learning outcomes for at risk students.
Teachers have a highly professional approach to accelerating student achievement. They provide productive learning environments for all students. Teachers make good use of assessment information to inform their programme planning and targeted actions for individual and group teaching. They work cooperatively to share successes, challenges and effective strategies to accelerate progress for at-risk students. Teachers engage in deliberate acts of teaching that align learning tasks, school resources and home support. Respectful relationships and sharing of knowledge within and across school teams strengthens teacher practice.
Students experience a positive culture for learning. They have a strong understanding of the school values and are highly engaged in all aspects of the curriculum. The school values reciprocal learning opportunities with families and other community groups. Students are provided with equitable opportunities to learn from a rich curriculum that promotes well-being and belonging.
To further support equity and excellence, ERO and the school have agreed that teachers:
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.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region
31 January 2018
| Location | Hamilton |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 577 |
| School type | Contributing (Years 1 – 6) |
| School roll | 812 |
| Gender composition | Boys 51% Girls 49% |
| Ethnic composition | Maori 11% Pakeha 45% Chinese 13% Indian 9% Other Asian 7% Other European 2% Pacific 3% Other 10% |
| Provision of Māori medium education | No |
| Review team on site | November 2017 |
| Date of this report | 31 January 2018 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review March 2013 Education Review April 2010 |